Laakirchen Papier, part of Austria’s Heinzel group, will stop SC paper production from the end of November 2024. The stop will reduce output capacity for uncoated magazine paper in Europe by more than 300.000 tpy.
Laakirchen Papier hadpostponed this step three times before announcing in January that it would stop the machine at the end of 2024. The company will then switch production on PM 11 from graphic paper to recycled containerboard as planned. Heinzel expects that the rebuilt PM will be commissioned in the first half of 2025. Work on rebuilding the machine will begin in early December this year. The rebuild will enable Heinzel to additionally produce about 500,000 tpy of corrugating medium and testliner.
The Laakirchen paper mill has two paper machines whose combined capacity is slated to increase from around 800,000 tpy to 1.04 million tpy. Besides PM 11, the site also hosts PM 10, which was converted from SC paper production in 2017.
Capital expenditure for the project is above €100m. Jobs at the Laakirchen site will be secured for the future, around 400 persons are currently employed at the site.
Heinzel has contracted Voith to rebuild PM 11. The PM will use recovered paper as raw material. Bunzl & Biach, Heinzel’s recovered paper merchanting subsidiary, will secure supply to Laakirchen from Austria and neighbouring countries.
Aside from rebuilding PM 11, the agenda for Laakirchen includes expansion of the sewage treatment plant and steam boiler. In the context of expanding the sewage treatment plant, for which Heinzel has earmarked €15m, a biogas plant will be built, which will reduce the use of fossil fuels.
