WestRock Provides Update Following Hurricane Florence
September 18, 2018
ATLANTA (News release) -- WestRock Company has provided an update following the landfall of Hurricane Florence.
We are pleased that we have had no reported employee injuries and do not believe we have suffered any material physical damage to our facilities during the recent storm. We are working to restore normal operations at our facilities in the impacted region. We idled our kraft linerboard mill in Florence, South Carolina, in the middle of last week in advance of the landfall of Hurricane Florence. Yesterday, two of the three paper machines at the mill resumed operations, and we expect normal operations to resume after the transportation network in the region returns to normal.
WestRock operates an extensive network of mill and converting facilities in South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia that were in the storm's potential path. We incurred incremental costs in preparing these facilities and moving inventory, finished product and critical supplies in advance of the storm. With flooding expected across the region, we may have additional increased input and operational costs and issues in our supply chain, as well as experience negative impact from disruptions at our customers' locations. We expect to provide an estimate as to the impact on our business and financial results later this month.
