Nippon Dynawave Packaging Mill Resumes Shipments of Previously Processed Product

More than two weeks after an accident killed 11 people at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging mill in Longview, Washington, some shipping activities have resumed, The Spokesman-Review reported (6-11-26).

A company spokesperson cautioned that plant activity is largely limited to shipping materials that had already been produced before the accident, and that new production is not underway.

“The company is shipping finished products that were manufactured before the incident, including packaging used by customers such as school lunch programs,” company spokesperson Sam Jefferies said.

Nippon Dynawave, which is owned by Tokyo-based Nippon Paper Industries, has agreed to pay idled workers “at least” through August 8. Joshua Estes, spokesperson for the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers, said the union does not have the exact number of workers who have returned to work, and Jefferies also was not able to provide a figure.

The 73-year-old plant, which Nippon Paper purchased from Weyerhaeuser in 2016, has been a major employer in Longview for decades and also supplied raw material to Norpac. Nippon Dynawave said it was supplying Norpac with some kraft slurry pulp that had already been produced before the incident.

Norpac that its mill was “initially impacted” by the accident but “quickly resumed operations,” with “no impact on NORPAC employees.” The company said its mill used Nippon pulp “for a subset of its graphic paper grades, but NORPAC is not dependent on Nippon pulp.”

How long production will remain paused at Nippon Dynawave remains unclear.