Between price rises and supply problems, Norske Skog is having to adapt conversion work at its Golbey paper mill in the Vosges. First mooted for 2020, this major project will transform the French mill's PM1 newsprint machine into a corrugated base paper (CBP) machine for the recycled packaging market.
Last September, the Norwegian group announced that the transformation of the machine was 80% complete. This will not be enough to finish on schedule. Scheduled for the fourth quarter of this year, the start of packaging production has been postponed to the second half of 2024, due to delivery delays.
And these delays have taken their toll. The budget has risen from 265 million to 300 million euros. This increase is also due to higher purchase prices for goods and services throughout the project period, explains the Group.
"The Golbey conversion project is of considerable scope and was carried out during a period of very high inflation and global supply chain difficulties. Delivery delays and their consequences forced the Golbey project team, as well as company management, to revise the project parameters." says Geir Drangsland, CEO of Norske Skog, who stresses that the changes are a demanding process due to the complexity of the project.
Once converted, the machine will have a capacity of 550,000 tonnes and should reach 95% utilization within two to three years of start-up. Papeterie Golbey will continue to produce newsprint on its second machine, which has an annual capacity of 330,000 tonnes.
Together with the paper machine already converted at Bruck in Austria, Norske Skog will have a total capacity of 760,000 tonnes of cardboard.
