IP Explosion Caused $50 Million In Damage; Repairs Not Complete

February 25, 2017

It will take up to three months and $50 million for International Paper to recover from the January 22 explosion at their Cantonment mill.

The explosion caused significant structural damage to the largest pulp digester and the power house, bringing operations at the mill to a halt for just over a week.

The power house has been restarted, and the Cantonment mill was able to resume partial operations producing fluff pulp using a series of small batch digesters within a couple of weeks of the explosion.

However, IP said in an annual report to investors that they will not be able to resume full operations in Cantonment producing containerboard during the first quarter of 2017.

“It is currently estimated that the total impact will be in excess of $50 million, but that property damage and business interruption insurance will cover a significant portion of these costs,” International Paper said in a federal filing this week. “The timing of these costs and potential insurance recoveries in unknown.”

The company said it has property damage and business interruption insurance to cover some of the losses.

Pictured: The  International Paper mill in Cantonment sits idle following a January 22 explosion. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.

Comments

5 Responses to “IP Explosion Caused $50 Million In Damage; Repairs Not Complete”

  1. Elmo on February 28th, 2017 3:06 pm

    I have an idea, let’s just shut down the mill so we all can watch our taxes go through the roof! Yeah, we can take care of the local schools by giving our money to the schools for needed supplies, just as the mill does. We also can give money to top scholars in high school student’s scholarship money and donate thousands to local cancer instutes just as the mill does. We can watch local small businesses close down because the demand has dropped off because those good paying jobs have gone away…. Then we all can have more to cry about when it hits our pocket books!

  2. 429SCJ on February 27th, 2017 7:06 am

    Fifty Million, that sounds about right for the purchase of the Cantonment Heights subdivision and the mill infrastructure.

    I wonder how much the cleanup cost?

    @ The people complaining about the ash on their cars; the mill operates a carwash, has for years.

  3. Terry on February 26th, 2017 10:53 pm

    Ialso had black ash or pulp on my cars and property Saturday morning the 25th..I live south of Kingsfield Rd. on hwy 297a.Whats up with that?.

  4. Chris in Molino on February 26th, 2017 8:16 pm

    Will we ever learn how many lawsuits were filed against IP or how much total they paid for said lawsuits ? Just curious how many people capitalized on IP’s misfortune.

  5. Curious on February 25th, 2017 9:22 am

    Can you find out why I had more black pulp on my car this morning? It’s not old because it’s black so it didn’t blow off my roof (which they already cleaned)