Production reduction scheduled for Nov. 23 at Riverdale Mill

Published 4:31 pm Thursday, November 13, 2008

The International Paper Riverdale Mill will shut down the week of Thanksgiving.

International Paper made the announcement Thursday, saying the demand for uncoated freesheet paper has declined. Freesheet paper, which is manufactured at the Riverdale Mill is generally used by businesses for office and business printing, publishing, commercial printing and writing.

The No. 15 Paper Machine at Riverdale will close down an additional week, said Russell Harris, Riverdale’s Mill manager. The shutdown will affect about 760 workers.

Email newsletter signup

“Plans currently are to have No. 15 Paper Machine down approximately 16 days and No. 16 Paper Machine down approximately nine days,” Harris said. “This downtime the week of Nov. 23 will affect employees across the mill; however, there will be a limited number of employees onsite to perform essential functions, such as fire watch.”

Riverdale is not the only mill affected by the downtime.

Other freesheet paper mills also will have downtime. International Paper also announced the permanent paper machine at its Franklin, Va. Mill. Wayne Brafford, IP’s senior vice president for printing and communications papers, said the shutdown will result in the permanent curtailing of the company’s annual paper production capacity by about 150,000 tons of uncoated freesheet paper and affect about 50 employees.