Georgia-Pacific Slows Construction of Greenfield OSB Mill in Florida

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Construction of an oriented strand board (OSB) mill near Hosford, Florida by Georgia-Pacific Corporation (NYSE: GP) (Atlanta, Georgia) has slowed to crawl. While construction started in the spring of 2001, the plant, which was originally scheduled for completion at the end of 2002, is only at the 25% completion mark. Soft market conditions for OSB and other wood products could mean that the startup of the plant will not take place before 2004.

Once operational, the plant will produce around 400,000 metric tons a year of OSB on a 3/4 inch basis. OSB will be produced on a continuous press, housed in a 389,600 square foot metal building. After pouring some 1,200 yards of concrete, the press was erected in eight days. Some of the key pieces of support equipment, including the forming line, are on site and will be installed over the next year.

Oriented strand board is made from low-grade tree fibers and is often used as sheathing panels for walls, roofs and floors. Georgia-Pacific operates OSB manufacturing plants in Mississippi, West Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Virginia. The company recently completed a transaction that transferred G-P's OSB mill in Woodland, Maine to Louisiana Pacific Corp in exchange for plywood mills in Louisiana and Texas.

Parham and Parham, Inc (Jackson, Alabama), a privately held company, is providing engineering and construction services for the project.

Headquartered at Atlanta, Georgia-Pacific is one of the world's leading manufacturers and distributors of tissue, packaging, paper, building products, pulp and related chemicals. With annual sales of more than $25 billion, the company employs approximately 71,000 people at 600 locations in North America and Europe. Georgia-Pacific's building products distribution segment has long been among the nation's leading wholesale suppliers of building products to lumber and building materials dealers and large do-it-yourself warehouse retailers.