Irving Paper says it has completely shut down 50 per cent of its operations resulting from New Brunswick’s “uncompetitive industrial electrical energy charges.”
The corporate, situated in Saint John, N.B., mentioned 140 staff had been impacted on Monday, and the layoffs are efficient instantly.
Vice-president Mark Mosher mentioned the corporate is working intently with authorities businesses to help affected staff with the transition.
“Our staff should not simply colleagues, they’re household,” Mosher mentioned. “That’s why the choice to completely downsize is a tough one, however vital to make sure the corporate’s long-term sustainability within the face of skyrocketing electrical energy charges.
Get breaking Nationwide information
For information impacting Canada and around the globe, join breaking information alerts delivered on to you after they occur.
Mosher mentioned it has change into tough for the corporate to “shoulder the influence” of hovering electrical energy prices and stay aggressive in a global market.
He added that regardless of working with the federal government of New Brunswick “in the direction of an answer,” there was no viable different for full operation of each paper machines.
“Over the following variety of weeks, we are going to proceed to work with the provincial authorities to attempt to develop a plan to permit the continued operation of the remaining 50 per cent of the mill, previous to the extra 10 per cent electrical energy price improve on April 1, 2025,” Mosher mentioned.
The corporate had already introduced in early December 2024 that it was shutting down 50 per cent of its operations in Saint John, which might final per week, and that the transfer was in response to the province’s record-high industrial electrical energy charges.
“Irving Paper is a world-class facility that we’ve got invested vital sources in to be high quartile in just about each class, together with vitality effectivity,” Mosher mentioned. “Seeing a facility like ours partially shut down resulting from uncompetitive electrical energy charges marks a tragic day for a lot of.”
The corporate mentioned Irving Paper is a world-class producer of graphic paper to be used in magazines, catalogues, newspapers and promoting flyers. Over 95 per cent of Irving Paper’s annual manufacturing output, round 400,000 tonnes of paper, is exported to 65 international locations.
© 2025 World Information, a division of Corus Leisure Inc.
Source link