Wellman Plant Will Remain Closed Until November

Wellman, Inc. announced its Pearl River, Miss., facility is expected to resume PET resin production by this November.

The plant was closed down late last month in anticipation of Hurricane Katrina. The facility did not sustain any major structural damage. However, a significant amount of water ended up on the site, resulting in the need for some of the facility’s pumps, drives and electrical controls to be either refurbished or repaired.

While the facility is expected to resume production in November, it is expected to operate at less than its full capacity until transportation and other support infrastructure is totally operational. The lack of production from the Pearl River facility is expected to reduce Wellman's total sales by between 15-20 percent for the period from the shut down at the end of August until the plant resumes operations.

Wellman expects the start up of the 300 million pound PET resin expansion at the Pearl River facility to be delayed from the first quarter of 2006 until the second quarter of 2006.