https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/15/us/m ... e=Homepage
Same article is posted on Boston.com (no pay wall): https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/ ... vior-china
Interesting excerpts:
The most startling thing about Ms. Zhang [new owner] was her promise that Nine Dragons would operate the mill for 100 years
the mill would now be loading much of its pulp — virgin pulp, produced from trees — onto cargo ships headed for China, to be fabricated among Nine Dragons’ eight mills there.
The ambitious two-year goal declared at the grand opening — to convert the mill from hardwood to softwood, and then scale up pulp production from the mill’s former yield of 150,000 tons a year to 270,000 — is still far off.I'm guessing the virgin pulp will ship out of Old Town via box cars heading to Ayer for transloading into international cube containers that will ship out of Boston? Also, PAR Weight Limit map indicates that N Maine Jct to Old Town track is restricted to 263,000 lbs. Is that track likely to be upgraded to 286,000 lbs to match the rest of the main line south to Ayer?
The mill is still ramping up, producing about 200 tons a day, Mr. Kerschner said. He said he hoped to bring production up to the pre-shutdown level early this year.