Norske Skog and Burgo Restart Paper Machines in Europe after COVID-19-Related Downtime
Norske Skog's Golbey newsprint mill in France has resumed full operation after temporarily shutting down PM 2 for two weeks after a worker tested positive for the coronavirus.
April 2, 2020 - Trade news publisher EUWID reported that Norske Skog's Golbey newsprint mill in France has restarted PM 2. Norske Skog told EUWID that the machine was put back into operation on April 1 after a two-week stoppage. The machine had been shut down due to one confirmed case of coronavirus, which required a 14-day quarantine for co-workers. The Golbey mill has two newsprint machines. PM 2 is the larger one with a capacity of 350,000 tpy. The other machine, PM 1, has the capacity to produce 250,000 tpy of newsprint. EUWID said that a company spokesperson expressed concerns about the future workload of the machines. He said he feared shrinking orders for newsprint as many printing companies in France had suspended operations due to the coronavirus crisis. In Belgium, Burgo Group has restarted production at its Ardennes mill after a 10-day stoppage. The company reports that production of woodfree paper as well as pulp restarted on March 30. According to EUWID's news story, the site had been temporarily shut down on March 20 amid Covid-19 concerns. The mill is located in Vitron, Belgium, close to the border to France's Grand Est departement which is heavily affected by the spread of coronavirus. During the downtime, Burgo says it "carried out certain activities to improve safety working conditions in order to prevent the Covid-19 diffusion". Burgo operates one paper machine at the Ardennes site with a capacity of 350,000 tpy of woodfree coated paper. The site also has a fiber line, with the capacity to produce 360,000 tpy of bleached mixed hardwood kraft pulp. EUWID is a specialist trade publisher with a team of approximately 40 journalists, covering a wide range of industries, including pulp and paper. For further information, visit: www.euwid.de. SOURCE: EUWID |