Kruger to convert newsprint line to linerboard production

Montreal-based Kruger Packaging L.P. has announced it will make an investment of CA$250 million to convert the No. 10 newsprint machine at its mill in Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada, to manufacture 100-percent-recycled-content linerboard.

The project will be carried out with the support of the Government of Québec, according to the company, which made the announcement in the presence of several provincial ministers.

The project has received CA$190 million in support from the Québec government, including a CA$84 million loan to finance the cost of the conversion and CA$106 million in funding through Investissement Québec, invested in a new company that now combines all of Kruger’s containerboard and packaging activities. As a result of the investment, the Québec government will have a 25 percent ownership stake in the new company, which has assets in excess of CA$600 million, according to Kruger’s announcement. The investment also helps to secure “more than 800 jobs, including 620 in Québec,” Kruger says.

During the 20-month conversion project, the former newsprint machine “will be completely modernized to incorporate some of the most advanced containerboard manufacturing technology,” according to Kruger. Once the new line is up and running in 2017, it is projected to produce 360,000 metric tons of 100-recycled-content lightweight linerboard per year.

Some of that output will be sold to Kruger Packaging’s box plants in LaSalle, Quebec, and Brampton, Ontario, Canada, while the remainder will be sold on the open market. The type of linerboard to be manufactured in Trois-Rivières “is seeing huge growth in North America and around the world, as packaging manufacturers seek to produce increasingly lighter and stronger products,” says Kruger.

The Trois-Rivières mill’s other newsprint production line, paper machine No. 7, will remain in operation. Kruger’s three remaining newsprint lines will have an annual output of 600,000 metric tons, keeping the company “among North America’s top newsprint manufacturers,” says the company.

Kruger was founded in 1904 and is a producer of publication papers, tissue products, containerboard and packaging made from recycled fibers and operates recycling facilities in Canada. Kruger also produces renewable energy, cellulosic biomaterials and wines and spirits.