Katahdin Paper suing firm over equipment

BANGOR – Katahdin Paper, the company that in 2003 took over operations from bankrupt Great Northern Paper, is suing a Canadian firm over allegedly faulty equipment that was installed one year ago in its East Millinocket mill.

According to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Bangor, Katahdin Paper has spent nearly $600,000 on the defective equipment and could end up spending $500,000 more to replace it.

Katahdin Paper hired U&R Systems of Vancouver, British Columbia, to install an automated rake in a bark-burning boiler that is used to generate power at the East Millinocket mill. Because manual removal of ash and debris from the boiler was “cumbersome and inefficient,” the complaint indicated, Katahdin Paper wanted to improve the process with an automated system.

U&R recommended that Katahdin Paper also replace grates in the boiler with six new grates that would be compatible with the new rake. Katahdin Paper paid U&R $214,700 for the new grates, which were opened with a stiff chain drive mechanism.

According to Katahdin Paper, however, soon after the grates were installed in May 2004 they started to stick because the chain track became jammed with debris when the boiler was operating. At U&R’s suggestion, the paper company added devices to mechanically force the grates shut, rather than having them closed by gravity, and to blow air through the chain track to keep it free of debris.

Neither improvement solved the problem and in February, after repeated but unsuccessful efforts to get U&R to return to East Millinocket to inspect the system, Katahdin removed the malfunctioning grates, the complaint indicated.

Katahdin Paper is suing U&R for breach of contract and warranties and is demanding a jury trial.

Katahdin Paper’s attorney, Jonathan Piper of Portland, said Tuesday that without the new rake and grates, ash and debris cannot be removed systematically from the boiler.

“Right now they are operating without grates, which is extremely inefficient,” Piper said.

Though the equipment failure has forced substantial costs on the mill, it has not affected the mill’s overall productivity, he said.

Besides the $214,700 Katahdin Paper paid for the new grates, the company claims to have spent an additional $190,311 to have the grates installed, $96,670 for the unused automated rake, and $37,000 for an air blower system. Including other equipment and repair costs, as well as $10,000 it has spent on fuel oil while the boiler has been off line, the company has incurred $596,000 in expenses because of the faulty equipment, according to the complaint.

It was not clear Tuesday afternoon if U&R had hired a Maine attorney to represent it in the lawsuit. Messages left Tuesday at the company’s Vancouver office and at the office of the company’s Vancouver attorney were not immediately returned.