I recently visited this mill located just outside the town of Eilenburg, Germany, near Liepzig. This mill uses 100 recycled fiber as its furnish. Constructed and commissioned in 1994, this mill is neat, clean and well maintained facility which I rate as a best in class site. Details for this mill can found at: http://storaenso.com/CDAvgn/main/0,,1_EN-3288-15389-,00.html.
Eilenburg is a picturesque town with a 1000 year history in the center of the Free State of Saxony. We lunched at the Ratskeller restaurant in the basement of a prominent building on the main street.
During our three day visit we stayed in Leipzig, a sizeable city undergoing some major renovations.
One evening near the town square, Das Alte Rathaus, http://www.stadtmuseum-leipzig.de/altesrathaus/altesrathaus_start_en.htm I was treated to authentic German cuisine in the form of schweinkrustenbraten with sauerkraut and dumplings, with of course some liquid refreshment for which Germany has a reputation.
All in all a very nice experience.
Oregon Coast Tide Pool
The Oregon (USA) Coast
Any trip along the Oregon coast has to include a stop at a tidal pool.
If the weather cooperates and the tide is right, the abundance of sea creatures is phenomenal and to be enjoyed by all. But remember, do not disturb the creatures or their environment.
The Peace River Pulp mill is located in Peace River, Alberta. It is unique in that it is one of North America's most northern pulp mills and is located right in the middle of Alberta's oil and gas 'patch'.
As most Canadians know the area is booming due to the oil sands. One advertisement for welders pay in the area stated that the going wage is $67.63 CND per hour. Imagine what stresses this places upon a pulp mill trying to retain skilled workers while competing in the global pulp market.
Arriving by ferry with friends from Finland, the Old Town of Tallinn is quite an experience. While not as large as some of the old towns in other European cities, this city offers some very unique and interesting viewpoints, and the weather was spectacular.
Tallinn is a destination point for many Europeans. Ferries (more like a cruise ship with room for cars and trucks) arrive and depart on a regular basis from ports throughout the Baltic Sea.
I would highly recommend that if you are in Finland, a day trip to Tallinn is well worth the time.
Team 60 Fly Over
Gothenberg, Sweden
While on a business trip to Europe, which included stopovers in Gothenberg, London, Brussels and Basel, Switzerland I happen to be Gothenberg as they were celebrating the inauguration of the GoteTunnel, a highway tunnel they have built under their harbor.
The Swedish aerobatic team Team 60 perform a fly by as I was standing behind the Gothenberg Opera House and took this picture.
In this picture, of the connecting lock to the inner harbor of old Maastricht, the SAPPI paper mill is to the left, behind the wire fence. The mill sits on what is now prime real estate, on the river Maas.
After a visit with mill personnel we proceeded to walk to the restaurant, MOLO 5 (http://www.molo5.nl/) located on the lower level of the inner harbor, or as it is called in Dutch, 't Bassin (http://www.bassin.nl/index3.html).
According to our colleagues, Maastricht is one of the oldest settlements in the Netherlands and these structures date back centuries.
The owner of the restaurant was very helpful and explained the menu in english. The dinner was superb, the wine was excellent and the conversations animated.
Golden Gate Bridge
Golden Gate Bridge & San Francisco, California (USA)
Most of my travel is through San Francisco, California so I have opportunity to take some pictures of one of the most fascinating cities in the world. In this photo the Golden Gate Bridge is prominent in the background. In photo below is a picture of downtown SF, with the Goodyear blimp overhead obviously taking TV for a SF Giants baseball game in progress at AT&T Stadium in the foreground.
Many Bay Area residents use the elaborate transportation system to commute. Ferries are constantly plying the waters of the bay to destinations north and east. As you can see, on a nice day the Bay is also full of sail boats.
San Francisco is accessed by two bridges, the Golden Gate (to Marin and north) and the Bay Bridge (to Oakland and east).
This is Sao Francisco, south of Belem on the northern coast of Brazil in the mouth of the Amazon. The road just ends at one of the many side streams feeding the Amazon. There is a smaller car ferry that will transport your truck, bus or automobile to the other side of the water, about 300 yards, but most of the transients take one these 'water ferries' shown here.
I was project managing a CMMS implementation at a very modern 380,000 tonne per year aluminum smelter and bauxite processing plant a few mills from here. The 'mill' town was in stark contrast to this little village, where I would catch the 'passenger' ferry to Belem occasionally in order to have a beer and a hamburger in the Belem Hilton.
Usually I caught the bigger vehicle ferry (a flat bottomed barge and a tug boat) and then continued the cab ride to the aluminum plant and its village where I stayed at the only available local lodging.
An interesting observation about working near the equator is that the sun rises and sets everyday at the same time. The other usual occurance was the afternoon showers, by which you could almost set your watch.
The aluminum plant was state-of-the-art, some 8 years old at the time and with capacity being added. Their maintenance and reliability effort was also near world class, a seeming anomaly given the local conditions, but its location is governed by electric power which is received from a huge hydroelectric project upriver. Of the 500 MW generated, half goes to the mill and the other half supplies Belem, a city of 3 million.
Downtown San Francisco
PanAsia Paper, Jeonju, Korea
Pan Asia Paper Museum, Jeonju, South Korea
I visited this mill in August 2005. It is a newsprint mill using both recycled fiber and mechanical pulp. The facility has three co-gen plants and seven (7) paper machines and dates back 38 years.
Of interest is the Paper Museum on the site, housed in a three story building and open to the public. While I was taking the self guided tour there were numerous school children with their teachers also learning about the history of papermaking (of course, from a Korean perspective). The last part of the tour is an actual papermaking exercise where you create a sheet of paper and have it stamped to authenticate your presence. It was a special treat for the kids, and I.
Within the space of a few miles along the Wisconsin river, from Nekoosa in the south to Stevens Point in the north, there are seven mill sites (Nekoosa, Port Edwards, Wisconsin Rapids, Biron, Whiting and Stevens Point). Five are Stora Enso North America and two are Domtar.
This site is the Wisconsin Rapids Pulp Mill of SENA as viewed from the east side of the Wisconsin river. It supplies virgin kraft pulp to the Wisconsin River Paper Mill through a pipeline. As with most of the mills in this region of the country, the mill's are sited in the city/town downtown area. In many cases great care is taken to make the buildings and grounds as attractive as possible for an industrial manufacturing site.
Juan Lacaza, Uruguay
While in Uruguay recently I visited the FANAPEL (FAbrica NAcional el paPEL) pulp and paper mill in Juan Lacaza on the shores of Rio de la Plata. As you can see from the entrance building the mill site has been in existence since 1898. http://www.fanapel.com.uy/home/index.asp
Most of the equipment in use today is relatively modern, but when I asked the Maintenance Manager if there was anything left from the 1898 era, he thought awhile, and then with a smile, said "Yes, #1 Machine." He was joking, of course, but I understand his humor having myself maintained paper machines approaching 100 years of age.
I found Uruguay to be a very nice, clean and hospitable country, although I only traveled from Mercedes in the west to Juan Lacaza, then Colonia before returning to Buenos Aires, Argentina via ferry. The part I traveled reminded me of south and central Wisconsin, e.g., rolling countryside filled with neat, well maintained farms. The giveaway that it isn't Wisconsin were the palm trees. Not many palm trees growing in the Wisconsin countryside.
Each of the little farm communities that we passsed through on our road trip were also, generally, very tidy. I was surprised by the number of old, some antique, pickup trucks still operating.
The Twins
San Jose, Costa Rica
I was recently in Costa Rica and happened upon this young 'Tico' (that's what Costa Ricans call themselves) couple, out on a Sunday afternoon with their kids. Costa Ricans love life and revere their children. This picture is ample proof of that.
Costa Rica is 2nd oldest democracy in the western hemisphere, second only to the USA. They have no standing army and their police enforcement is low key. The country is 50 miles across from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast, although traversing by road would take awhile. The roads are not good and they are crowded with buses, tractor trailers and passenger cars constantly taking risks to pass.
Downtown San Jose is a clean, vibrant city situated in the central highlands (6000 feet elevation) surrounded by active volcanos. Poas claims to have the largest active crater in the world.
I traveled down to the central Pacific coast to a village named Quepos. It reminded me of the Keys (in Forida), circa 1960. It sits adjacent to Manual Antonio National Park, an interesting collection of native flora and fauna can be observed here while soaking up the sun and surf.
Veracel Pulp Mill - Brazil (photo by Bruno Stuckert)
Itagimirim, Bahia State, Brazil
The photo right is an aerial of the new market pulp mill site of Veracel (a 50% joint effort of Stora Enso and Aracruz). The mill is scheduled for start-up in July of 2005. Progress can be monitoried by visiting http://www.veracel.com.br/en/
Note the surrounding plantations of eucalyptus. These trees grow to maturity (for pulp wood harvesting) in 7 years. Driving to the mill from Porto Seguro (the landing site of the Portuguese explorer, Pedro Alvares Cabral in the year 1500) is an exciting adventure. The secondary road, a dirt track really, after first taking a short ferry ride across a small river meanders through diverse countryside of mostly ranches and farms. As you approach the mill site the eucalyptus plantations appear. Mile after mile of evenly planted trees awaiting harvesting upon reaching maturity.
The mill when fully operational is designed to produce 900K metric tonnes of bleached eucalyptus fiber per year. This versatile fiber is sought after by the producers of printing and writing papers because of its unique printing characteristics. Most of the pulp produced will be exported to the US and Europe.
Lady Washington
Humboldt Bay, northern California (USA)
This is a picture of the tall ship Lady Washington visiting Humboldt Bay, Eureka, California. In the background is the Evergreen Pulp mill (owned by Lee & Man Paper Co. of China).
Lady Washington has the distinction of being in the movie 'Pirates of the Caribbean' in the role as HMS Interceptor.
While I get to travel to many interesting places, I don't always have an opportunity to really 'visit'.
Steyr, Austria is a beautiful small city sitting on the junction of two rivers, not far from the Nettingsdorf, Austria paper mill of Smurfit.
At one place, not far from where this photo was taken, one building sitting on the edge of the river has markers indicating the flood levels from past floods (Hochwasserstande). The earliest noted is 14.7.1572
Mt. Shasta, California (USA)
This is a view of Mt. Shasta, near Redding, California from a Boeing 777 returning to San Francisco from Frankfurt.
Mt. Shasta is 14,162 feet and is popular for climbers of all skill levels. During October 1981 two colleagues, my stepson and I climbed from the Avalanche Gulch route.
While performing a best practices assessment at the M real mill in nearby Alizay, France (in the Normandy region) I stayed at a small, quaint, 18 room hotel (Hotel de la Tour) in Pont de l' Arche. Immediately behind the hotel and up the hill, dominating the small village, is this beautiful cathedral.
In my room, the original post & beam with doweled joints construction was exposed making the room seem that much more inviting. Of course the bathroom, phone and electric service were all updated.
We had a very relaxing, several course, typically French dinner in one of the restaurants in the village. The restaurant is named Le Grand Saint-Cloi. The service was superb, the food was perfectly presented and, of course, the wine was excellent.
Bonzai Garden - PanAsia Paper
Shanghai, China
I recently visited the Shanghai PanAsia Potential Paper mill just east and south of Shanghai. I spent several hours interviewing various management personnel and touring the facility and was priviliged to attend an authentic Chinese luncheon hosted by the mill's Engineering & Maintenance Manager along with my Chinese colleagues.
As we toured the site, I couldn't help but observe and appreciate the bonzai garden immediately outside and between the main office and mill. I'm sure the gardeners who were attending to their grooming duties and asked to step away while I took pictures were wondering what was so special about 'their' garden that a foreigner would be taking pictures. I thought that the care and attention this group of 50 - 60 carefully manicured plants recieves deserves to be noticed and recorded.
My Mills While I actually started my career in the paper industry at a little two machine, sulphite pulp mill in upstate New York in 1964, these are pictures of three of the mills at which I worked. The mill in New York is still operating, but the pulp mill was shut down in the mid-60's.
The Nekoosa mill had (at the time) five paper machines and a bleached kraft pulp mill. The products were all printing and writing grades, technical and security papers, xerographic and offsets.
The Eureka mill was a 540 TPD bleached softwood (redwood) kraft pulp mill. The product was market pulp. The mill is no longer in existence, only the concrete brown stock, bleach plant and pulp dryer building structure remains.
The Woodland mill has one 300 TPD paper machine and a 1100 TPD hardwood bleached pulp mill. The product(s) are printing and writing papers (xerographic) and northern bleached hardwood kraft market pulp.
Later I was assigned to the technical headquarters located near Appleton, Wisconsin of a major paper company, at the time operating over 80 paper mills globally. That company, and the four mills at which I worked have all changed ownership, in some cases, a couple of times.
My Travel Statistics
Since March, 2003 when I began this most recent work assignment I have traveled over 1,070,000 air miles.
2003
While 2003 was a short year (10 months of travel opportunity) I logged 160,000 air miles on 7 different carriers, visiting only Sweden, Argentina, Brazil and Canada (as well as various USA locations).
2004 2004 was the first year (in 21 years of extensive business travel) that I logged more than 260,000 air miles, visiting 5 continents (I somehow missed Australia), stopping in 16 countries. I spent 122 nights sleeping in hotels and 10 nights sleeping onboard the plane in transit.
While in country that year I used four national railways (Sweden, Germany, Netherlands and Korea) one of which achieved a speed of 300 km/h (186 m/h). I also used busses, ferries, taxis, subways or elevated tramways and autos, and walked a few miles.
2005 2005 seemed as hectic, but I flew less miles, just 194,500 on 7 different carriers. I visited Brazil (3 times), Argentina (2 times), Chile, Costa Rica, Canada (many times), Korea and China. Surprisingly Europe was not a destination this year. I spent 139 nights away from home, 12 of those sleeping onboard. I had the occasion to use the subway in Shanghai, which was a very crowded, but interesting experience, and took the ferry between Colonia, Uruguay and Buenos Aires.
I had some interesting auto rides with colleagues, one into the back country of central Brazil on a slick, muddy road (after riding a ferry across one stream); one across Uruguay (beautiful countryside); another the length of the central valley of Chile with the Andes always in the background to the east and another down the interior of South Korea.
2006 In 2006 I flew 202,700 miles, visiting Thailand, Brazil, UK, Belgium, Netherlands, Finland, Switzerland, France, Sweden, Italy and Bulgaria. Weather delays prevented another trip to Brazil and illness caused a cancellation of a trip to Sweden. I only used 6 different air carriers this year and traveled extensively within North America.
I had a memorable weekend in Gothenberg, Sweden during the celebration of the long awaited opening of the harbor tunnel and the finish of an around the world sailing contest. The weather was perfect and I was able to meet with an old friend, and his wife, who are living in Sweden on a work assignment. I spent another weekend in northern Italy with representatives from around the world at one conference, and again in Switzerland, again with people from many different countries. As always the people of this world have an awful lot in common, including, very often, a great sense of humor, which causes one to pause and wonder why there is so much conflict amongst ourselves.
2007 During 2007 I flew some 180,000 miles on several different carriers. While the bulk of my travel was to Europe, including Germany, France, Finland, UK and Romania, I also visited Brazil and western Canada.
The week I spent in Romania was one of the highlights of that year's travel. While Bucharest was the start and end point we traveled by auto into and around Transylvania. It is a beautiful area.
