Hurricanes hamper Florida pulp mills

Pulp & Paper, Oct 2004

WEATHER

Hurricane Frances damaged roadways and ports, and affected production at some pulpwood mills, contacts said, and there was minimal to no damage at the array of paper and box plants in central and northern Florida.

The key problem from Frances was getting loads of raw material in and out of a mill and transporting end products out from mills. "It's kind of tough getting trucks in and out of Florida," a contact at Georgia-Pacific Corp. (G-P) said in mid-September.

Extensive flooding throughout the northcentral, northeast, and west-central parts of Florida shut many roads, according to Florida Division of Emergency Management.

The hurricane-which followed August's Hurricane Charley and hit before Hurricane Ivan started aiming for Florida in midSeptember-impacted production at pulpwood mills.

A contact said a few Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. (SSCC) mills in Florida reported temporary shortages because of a lack of woodchips. SSCC has mills in Jacksonville, Fernandina Beach, and Panama City. As much as 1 million tons each of hardwood and pine woodfiber production may have been lost during August and September, and that amount could grow, International Woodfiber Report said.