Fitchburg assets sold; Beloit to operate mill
Beloit Corp. will operate the now-shuttered Fitchburg, Mass., air-dried 440 tpd market deinked pulp (MDIP) mill when it reopens at an as yet unspecified date, producing a still-to-be-determined product.The assets of the facility were sold to the newly formed Massachusetts Paper Co. in early November following an August bankruptcy filing. The mill shut down in September 1996-following a January 1996 startup-amid operational and financial disputes between turnkey contractor Beloit and parent International Recycling Corp. (an entity of Intercontinental Energy Group). At the time, the mill was known as Northeast Recycling Assn. Corp. or Massachusetts Recycling Assn. Corp
The Fitchberg property was transferred subject to existing liabilities, with Beloit reportedly relinquishing its claims for operations and maintenance fees; no cash was paid into Massachusetts Recycling, according to a source. Beloit was expected to take over operations in November 1997. Beloit senior counsel Jack Fishman, listing a wide range of possible pulp and paper industry products, said there has been no decision yet; he did say the latest discussions have focused on tissue and some MDIP Fishman said Beloit will start staffing the facility soon, but he did not know when a decision would be made regarding the startup.
Domtar Inc.’s proposed 772 tpd recycled bleached corrugated (RBC) pulp project in Everett, Wash., should be considered canceled, since the likelihood of its reaching fruition is now “one chance out of 10 or 20,” said a company executive. Domtar has been evaluating the proposal for some time.An MDIP-proposed project at the same site-Snohomish River Pulp Co., which would have involved some common infrastructure with Domtarwas shelved in 1997.