Railroad Forums 

  • Paper Related Traffic and Cars

  • Guilford Rail System changed its name to Pan Am Railways in 2006. Discussion relating to the current operations of the Boston & Maine, the Maine Central, and the Springfield Terminal railroads (as well as the Delaware & Hudson while it was under Guilford control until 1988). Official site can be found here: PANAMRAILWAYS.COM.
Guilford Rail System changed its name to Pan Am Railways in 2006. Discussion relating to the current operations of the Boston & Maine, the Maine Central, and the Springfield Terminal railroads (as well as the Delaware & Hudson while it was under Guilford control until 1988). Official site can be found here: PANAMRAILWAYS.COM.

Moderator: MEC407

 #1488940  by CN9634
 
gokeefe wrote:They had an inquiry from the Justice Department and were forced to divest portions of New Page around the same time. Furthermore they reportedly had several serious buyers, Mahendra being one of them. I get it that they were making a secondary product but their market position was very strong in North America.
I'm sorry... Mahendra is a merchant/broker in India that mostly buys scrap/recycle/broke/seconds paper & fiber products. Aka, they're a junk dealer.... If they are the only serious potential 'buyer' then reality is there wasn't any real interest.
 #1489008  by CN9634
 
gokeefe wrote:There was another one as well ...
A simple google search reveals a lot about that 'legitimate' buyer. You do bring up a point-- the process went through a US District Judge so I guess he was in on the scheme too? At the end of the day, there was no real interest in a tired old mill and the end of an even more tired rail line.

However, the story of late for Jay, Rumford, Skowhegan, Old Town, Woodland and Madawaska is promising.
 #1489011  by newpylong
 
The ink on the closing wasn't even dry before they began scrapping it - it was preordained. Nuking the mill was a move for a streamlined New Page approval in many people's mind. Of course the judge was not in on it, it was not illegal, just fishy.

However, unless you were sitting in that office making the decision this is all conjecture.
 #1489014  by CN9634
 
newpylong wrote:The ink on the closing wasn't even dry before they began scrapping it - it was preordained. Nuking the mill was a move for a streamlined New Page approval in many people's mind. Of course the judge was not in on it, it was not illegal, just fishy.

However, unless you were sitting in that office making the decision this is all conjecture.
My point is the mill already was in jeopardy for years of neglect, poor logistical apparatus, and high re-development value. So it likely was a lever to push things along on the NP merger, but in the grand scheme of things that place needed a lot of capital investment and a railroad who cared to run down to remain competitive. Also, the product portfolio would have needed to been completely revamped (look at the new products mills are making, packaging & presentation grades, tissue & consumer papers, and pulp), so again, significant capital outlay. Who's to say Verso didn't already spend months looking for a buyer before the decision to pull the plug and acquire NP?