International Paper Ticonderoga mill starts annual shutdown



International Paper Ticonderoga mill starts annual shutdown | International Paper, shutdown, mill, New York,

TICONDEROGA, New York (From Sun Community News) - International Paper's Ticonderoga mill is offline from April 24 to May 10, but mill officials say it's a normal maintenance shutdown.

Mill Communications Manager Donna Wadsworth said all employees are working during the down time.

"The outage is pretty standard," she said. "Two weeks, (and) no major projects. No layoffs; everybody working."

The mill says some workers for contractors helping with the maintenance will arrive earlier and stay longer than the dates of the shutdown.

During the outage, workers will perform complete maintenance on the two paper machines at the mill, which normally operate 24/7, as well as other systems at the facility.

The Ticonderoga mill produces 850 tons a day of high quality technical and opaque paper under the brand names Hammermill, Accent Opaque and Springhill.

It employs about 615 workers with an $80 million annual payroll.

The paper mill lowered its production costs two years ago by switching from No. 6 fuel oil to natural gas in its boilers, a $12 million investment. The new fuel is being brought in daily by compressed natural gas tankers running between Milton, Vt. and Ticonderoga.