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Area construction bringing workers, jobs Area construction projects have local motels and RV parks filled with more RV parks on the drawing boards for the surge of construction workers expected when work starts on the new ThyssenKrupp steel mill at Calvert. While the startup of work on the new steel mill is still a few months away, work is progressing on several projects that have hundreds of construction workers busy in the area. A check with three area industries reveal a total construction employment of over 1,600. That is in addition to regular employment at the industrial plants. Boise shutdown started Boise's Jackson paper mill is shut down for maintenance and upgrades totaling nearly $14 million. Mill spokesman Marty Parker said, "The shutdown started Sunday and will continue through the end of the month, about two weeks. Different parts of the mill will be down at different times as the work is being done." BE&K is the general contractor for the work but a number of subcontractors are working in the mill too. Parker said at the peak of work, there should be approximately 460 construction workers on the mill property. The Boise work includes a $6.9 million upgrade of the mill's recovery boiler.According to "Quips and Chips," the mill's inhouse publication, "Since 1972 when the boiler was constructed, there have been several enhancements made to the unit but the upgrade planned for this year is one of the most extensive." The recovery boiler is termed the "heart of our operation and it is in very good shape due to the fact that it has been well maintained and operated for the past 35 years." The pulp mill's production is limited by the boiler's capacity to burn black liquor and some of this work will help to increase that capacity, the newsletter detailed. An improved air system will cost $4.6 million. This will help the mill to better distribute the combustion air that is generated by installing a third fan, new ducting and rerouting existing ducting and installing more air inlets into the furnace. Tubes in the Generating Bank will be replaced at a cost of $1.2 million. There are about 1,500 tubes, 24 feet long in the upper furnace where water enters the boiler and steam production starts. The hot side of the cluster, 636 tubes, will be replaced due to a thinning of the tube walls from years of erosion and corrosion. The Cascade Evaporator Wheel will also be replaced. The work will cost $1.1 million. The "Quips and Chips" article described the wheel as looking like a riverboat paddlewheel but instead of paddles there are 684 three-inch diameter tubes. "The wheel picks up the black liquor as it rotates and hot boiler exhaust air passes through the top half of the wheel to evaporate the last bit of moisture in the black liquor before it enters the furnace to be burned. This will be replaced due to thinning of the tube walls and cracking of the tube welds from years of erosion and corrosion." LP eyes December startup Work continues on the new Louisiana Pacific oriented strand board plant just south of Thomasville. The $215 million facility is on schedule to start producing OSB by late December. LP's Tommy Thompson said the company has hired 103 of the 141 full-time workers needed for the OSB plant. In addition, approximately 500 construction workers for various contractors are at work on the mill site. Thompson, who will oversee wood procurement for the plant, said two huge cranes are expected to be set in place within the next few weeks and then the mill will start accepting and stockpiling pine timber for the making of OSB. AEC work continues Work on improvements and upgrades at Alabama Electric Cooperative's Lowman Plant in Leroy directly across the Tombigbee River from the Boise plant also continues. The work has been going on for over a year and will continue into 2008, said Plant Manager Henry Ott. In addition to the new work being done, the Lowman Plant is also in the middle of a 45-day maintenance outage. All total, there are about 650 construction workers at the site in addition to the 175 regular plant employees. New steel mill Work is also ratcheting up at the new $4 billion ThyssenKrupp steel mill site at Calvert with activity starting to be visible from Highway 43. Trees have been cleared and grading is about 90 percent complete on the 3,565-acre site between Highway 43 and the Tombigbee River. The most noticeable change for Highway 43 travelers is a new traffic signal at the intersection of 43 and the road leading to the plant site. Tuesday, the company said it had awarded a contract to construct two important elements of the new mill. SMS Demag AG will build the hot strip mill and cold rolling complex. Construction is expected to start in early 2009. SMS Demag is a Germanybased company. The new mill will employ 27,000 construction workers between now and 2010 when it is slated to begin production. The mill will employ 2,700 permanent workers.
ThyssenKrupp is planning a groundbreaking ceremony for Nov. 2.
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