The Bowater Mersey Paper Company Limited, commonly shortened to Bowater Mersey, is a forestry company operating in the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

province of

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. From 1929 until June 2012 Bowater Mersey operated a thermomechanical pulp (TMP) mill and associated paper mill producing

newsprint Newsprint is a low-cost, non-archival paper consisting mainly of wood pulp and most commonly used to print newspapers and other publications and advertising material. Invented in 1844 by Charles Fenerty of Nova Scotia, Canada, it usually has a ...

located in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. Annual production in 2011 was approximately of newsprint. Since December 10, 2012 the company has been owned by the

Government of Nova Scotia The Government of Nova Scotia (french: Gouvernement de la Nouvelle-Écosse, gd, Riaghaltas Alba Nuadh) refers to the provincial government of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia is one of Canada's four Atlantic Provinces, and the sec ...

, which is in the process of decommissioning the TMP mill site.

History

The company was founded in 1929 as the Mersey Paper Company Limited by Nova Scotia industrialist

Izaak Walton Killam Izaak Walton Killam (July 23, 1885 – August 5, 1955) was a Canadian financier. Early life Born in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, he was the son of William Dudman Killam and Arabella Hunter (Belle) Cann. Business ventures As a young banker with the ...

. That year the Mersey Paper Company Ltd opened a pulp mill in Brooklyn on the northern shore of Liverpool Bay, in the estuary of the Mersey River. The mill had its own shipping and receiving pier to accommodate ocean freighters. To power the mill, the company dammed the Mersey approximately upstream at Indian Gardens, in the process creating a reservoir named

Lake Rossignol Lake Rossignol is the largest freshwater lake in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is located in the south-western interior of the province. History As a reservoir, it was created in 1929 when the Bowater Mersey Paper Company Limited dammed the Mersey R ...

. In 1956 the estate of Izaak Walton Killam sold the company to

Bowater Bowater Inc. was a paper and pulp business headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina. It merged with Abitibi-Consolidated in 2007, and the combined company went on to become Resolute Forest Products. History The North American assets of Bow ...

which renamed the company Bowater Mersey Paper Company Limited in 1959. At the same time, Killam's estate sold the Mersey River generating stations to the then-provincial Crown corporation

Nova Scotia Power Nova Scotia Power Inc. is a vertical integration, vertically integrated electric utility in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is privately owned by Emera and regulated by the provincial government via the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board (NSUARB). Nov ...

. In 1963 the

Washington Post Company Graham Holdings Company (formerly The Washington Post Company) is a diversified American conglomerate holding company. Headquartered in Arlington County, Virginia, and incorporated in Delaware, it was formerly the owner of ''The Washington Post ...

purchased 49 percent of the common stock of Bowater Mersey Paper Company Ltd., with Bowater retaining the controlling 51 percent ownership. Changes to the corporate structure and ownership of parent company Bowater saw that company's name evolve to become AbitibiBowater Inc in 2007 and

Resolute Forest Products Resolute Forest Products (French: ''Produits forestiers Résolu''), formerly known as AbitibiBowater Inc., is a Canada-headquartered pulp and paper company. Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Resolute was formed in 2007 by the merger of Bowater a ...

in November 2011. In October 2011 it was announced by parent company Resolute Forest Products that the Bowater Mersey Paper Company Limited was facing unprecedented production costs and that its operations would be re-evaluated later that fall. The parent company demanded concessions from the union, which were granted in a narrow vote in November 2011. Nova Scotia Power also committed to offer concessions in the form of discounted power rates and other incentives. On June 15, 2012 the parent company Resolute Forest Products announced that the mill would be idling its Bowater Mersey Paper Company Ltd. mill indefinitely, effective with the end of the last shift on June 16. Resolute Forest Products also indicated that it would be selling its assets in Nova Scotia, including the idled mill, its timber lands, and the Brooklyn Power Corporation. On December 10, 2012 it was announced that the

had purchased all shares in the Bowater Mersey Paper Company Ltd. for $1.00 CAD from owners Resolute Forest Products Inc. and

The Washington Post Company Graham Holdings Company (formerly The Washington Post Company) is a diversified American conglomerate holding company. Headquartered in Arlington County, Virginia, and incorporated in Delaware, it was formerly the owner of ''The Washington Post ...

. This deal saw the provincial government acquire all Bowater Mersey assets and liabilities, except for a sawmill in

Oakhill Oakhill is a village in the Mendip district of Somerset, England, in Ashwick parish approximately north of Shepton Mallet. It lies between the A37 and the A367 (which is part of the ancient Fosse Way). Oakhill is today is mainly a commuter ...

, Lunenburg County. The assets of Bowater Mersey transferred to the provincial government include of forest land, the pulp mill and paper mill in Brooklyn, a deep water marine terminal at Brooklyn, and the Brooklyn Power Corporation biomass electrical generating plant. Liabilities include a $20 million debt to Resolute Forest Products Inc., a $120 million pension liability for workers in the woodland and pulp mill operations, and environmental liabilities for the pulp mill site. The provincial government announced that it had reached a simultaneous agreement with

Nova Scotia Power Corporation Nova Scotia Power Inc. is a vertical integration, vertically integrated electric utility in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is privately owned by Emera and regulated by the provincial government via the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board (NSUARB). Nov ...

to sell Brooklyn Power Corporation for $25 million. On December 11, 2012 the provincial government announced that the TMP mill in Brooklyn would be decommissioned and the site become the site of a forest industry research facility with a focus on biomass energy.Province Takes Crucial Step to Build Forestry of Future
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Shipping fleet

The year after the mill began production in 1929, Mersey Paper Company Ltd founded Mersey Shipping Company Limited in 1930 which was renamed to Markland Shipping Company Limited in 1937 and Bowater Steamship Company of Canada Limited in 1959. Its ships carried pulp wood and paper products for the Brooklyn mill and other shippers.

References

{{reflist Companies based in Nova Scotia Region of Queens Municipality Pulp and paper companies of Canada Nova Scotia government departments and agencies Chemical companies established in 1929 1929 establishments in Nova Scotia Canadian companies disestablished in 2012 2012 disestablishments in Nova Scotia Defunct pulp and paper companies Canadian companies established in 1929