Cascades is closing three containerboard facilities in Canada and the U.S. as part of an optimization plan. The closures will affect 310 employees.
The Canadian paper products company announced Tuesday it will not restart a currently idled corrugated medium mill in Trenton, Ontario. It will also progressively close converting plants in Newtown, Connecticut, and Belleville, Ontario, by May 31.
Cascades said in the announcement that the current market environment, higher operating costs, aging technology and the need for significant capital investment drove the decisions.
The company is working to relocate the 310 affected employees, where possible. Those who do not wish to relocate “will receive support in their search for other employment,” according to the news release.
"We will stand by them through this process, and we will assist in the relocation of those employees wishing to continue working for Cascades at one of our other locations,” said Charles Malo, president and CEO of Cascades Containerboard Packaging, in a statement. “I would like to assure our customers that we will work with them to ensure a smooth transition.”
The collective annual production capacity of the machinery to be shut down is 175,000 short tons of corrugated medium and 500 million square feet of corrugated packaging. Cascades plans to move production to other sites with more modern equipment, such as the mill in Bear Island, Virginia, that opened last year.
Cascades made numerous other recent changes to its manufacturing footprint. In September, Cascades Enviropac, a division of Cascades Holdings US Inc., notified state officials in Michigan of its intent to close a plant in Grand Rapids that produced isothermal packaging, causing 35 layoffs. That followed the 2022 opening of an isothermal packaging production facility in Tacoma, Washington; Cacades said it would particularly target the insulated boxes produced there toward the meal delivery service market.
Last February, the company touted a $9 million investment in its Piscataway, New Jersey, corrugated packaging converting facility, in the form of a new printing press. Executives said the investment at that plant, which opened in 2018, would boost production capacity by 17% and aid the company’s growth in the Northeast.
In April 2023, Cascades announced a “repositioning” of its tissue papers business, with closures of “underperforming” plants in Barnwell, South Carolina, and Scappoose, Oregon. At that time, it also announced the shutdown of a virgin paper tissue machine at a plant in St. Helens, Oregon, and then in August announced that the whole plant would close.
Last July, Cascades announced a leadership change upon naming Jérôme Porlier the new president and chief operating officer at Cascades Specialty Products Group following Luc Langevin’s announcement that he would step down from the position to retire.
Cascades last reported earnings in November, showing Q3 sales of $1.2 billion, up 2.6% sequentially versus Q2 and up 2% year over year versus Q3 2022. The company will release Q4 and full-year 2023 financial results on Feb. 22.
