Verso Paper Corp. plans to shut down its Bucksport mill for two weeks in response to soft market demand for its paper and a spike in the cost of natural gas.
Company spokesman Bill Cohen told the Portland Press Herald the Bucksport mill would be shut down by Jan. 17 and remain idle for about two weeks. Approximately 560 workers are employed at the mill.
Cohen told the newspaper the mill’s biomass boiler will continue to produce electricity during the shutdown, which was announced in a letter to Bucksport employees late last week.
The temporary shutdown comes on the heels of last week’s announcement by Memphis-based Verso that it will purchase rival paper company NewPage Holdings Inc. in a $1.4 billion deal.
The companies, which together have three mills in Maine, will have combined sales of around $4.5 billion based on 2012 figures and 11 manufacturing facilities in six states.
