Just after The Penobscot Times went to press this a.m. we received the following press release from Expera Speciality Solutions:
Expera Specialty Solutions, LLC (“Expera”) announced today the shutdown of assets related to the Old Town pulp mill (“Old Town”) in Maine. Expera acquired the assets in December 2014.

Expera purchased the facility after the mill had been closed indefinitely by its previous owners.

“Expera successfully restarted the mill,” said Russ Wanke, President and CEO of Expera Specialty Solutions.

“However, since the restart, the decline of the Canadian dollar exchange rate combined with a significant increase of new pulp capacity has led to a material drop in market pulp prices. In addition, wood costs have not moderated in Maine commensurate with demand decline. The combination of these forces does not allow sustainable operations even with a dedicated and talented team of employees.”

“The employees of Old Town have worked hard to make this operation viable,” Wanke continued. “We are working with the employees to assist them with the impacts of this decision and\ unfortunately these market conditions were out of their individual control.”

The Old Town mill will be closed by the end of December and Expera is working with the Maine Department of Labor to assist the affected workers.

See next week’s Penobscot Times for more details.

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