Additional Details on Sid Rich Addis Shut Down

Earlier this week, this blog reported on an announcement by Sid Richardson to shut down one of its tread units at its carbon black plant in Addis, Louisiana, idling about 90 million pounds (40,000 tonnes) of capacity. I have received a few additional details about the plan. First, the unit is not being mothballed; the shut down is considered temporary until that capacity is required again. It is, in effect, an extended UTA (unit turnaround) as the downtime will be used to do necessary maintenance and repairs. Second, it is not a cost cutting move but rather a response to current market conditions, and there are no worker layoffs associated with the shutdown. Finally, if market remains weak, the company may decide to restart the idled unit and take another unit offline to do similar maintenance work on a rotating basis.