PCA reports major, unplanned outage at Tennessee mill

Packaging Corporation of America reported November 8 that its Counce, Tenn., linerboard mill incurred a major, unplanned outage beginning on October 24. The entire mill was down for 2.5 days and experienced operational difficulties through the end of the month. This outage resulted in about 11,000 tons of lost production as well as significant additional operating costs which will adversely impact fourth quarter earnings by about $0.04 per share.

This outage was the result of a total mill power failure which was related, in part, to an extended period of heavy rain and the subsequent failure of a valve which led to the contamination of the mill’s steam and boiler water systems.

Paul T. Stecko, chairman and CEO, said “Although this outage resulted in significant lost production and additional costs, we were fortunate that there was no major equipment damage, and the mill was up and running at full capacity by November 1.”

PCA is the sixth-largest producer of containerboard and corrugated packaging products in the United States with sales of $2.2 billion in 2006. PCA operates four paper mills and 67 corrugated product plants in 26 states across the country.