The Smurfit Kappa Cellulose du Pin paper mill located in Biganos in Gironde has been shut down since January 11th. The Irish paper group Smurfit Kappa will renovate one of its two paper machines. This major investment in the girondine plant 50 million, which we announced in 2018.
Paper machine no. 5 is stopped for 50 days. The rest of the corrugated base paper mill will restart at the end of January after a two-week maintenance period, according to the company South West .
The 50 million euros will be used to optimize the n°5 machine built in 1961. After dismantling and reassembly, it will operate with fewer resources and its production capacity will increase from 174,000 to 220,000 tons of paper per year.
For this major changeover, 80 engines of the machine will be changed, as well as 40 dryer cylinders of 11 tons each and 10 kilometers of electric cables according to Objective Aquitaine .
The Gironde paper mill Smurfit Kappa Cellulose du Pin, which has so far produced 500,000 tonnes of corrugated base paper, has a turnover of 260 million euros and 450 employees.
The last upgrade took place in 2018. But this one is "an historic and emblematic investment" said Nicolas Le Feuvre, CEO of Smurfit Kappa Kraft France to France bleu Gironde .
