BUCKSPORT – The International Paper Co. mill will shut down for 10 days next week in response to a seasonal slowdown in orders.

“This is something we see every year,” said IP spokeswoman Kelly McFarlane. “The people who are ordering take a lot of vacation time this time of year, and a lot of the orders have already been met for the end of the year.”

The shutdown initially had been planned for 15 days, but some additional customer orders came in and the mill needed to run a little longer, McFarlane said.

The mill produces specialty lightweight coated paper used by many of the nation’s magazines and catalogs.

It employs more than 900 people.

The shutdown will run from Dec. 24 through Jan. 2 and will involve the entire facility, McFarlane said.

Some employees will continue to work as the mill conducts some maintenance repairs and capital work during the production shutdown.

In addition, some parts of the mill, such as the wastewater treatment plant and the power plant, will continue to operate.

Meanwhile, some of the hourly workers who opted to accept a severance package offer have begun to end their employment at the mill.

More than 90 employees signed up for the package, which was negotiated with union leaders over the course of months earlier this year.

Negotiations began after the mill announced that it needed to cut as many as 150 positions from the mill’s work force, including 70 hourly jobs by the end of this year.

Mill officials indicated that they hoped to make those reductions through early retirement and voluntary severances.

Many employees who opted to retire also had some vacation time due and already have stopped working.

Some will end their employment by the end of the year, McFarlane said, while others will depart throughout the next year.

There is no word whether additional job cuts will be coming during 2003.

“We’re focused on this right now,” McFarlane said. “It’s hard to predict what is going to happen.”