The return of paper making to Port Huron is helping drive a new industrial comeback for the Blue Water Area.
Legacy Port Huron Paper officially launched this week at the former Domtar site with an open house featuring a visit from Governor Gretchen Whitmer along with other state, local, and company leaders. While the mill resumed operations this past October, the event celebrated the successful restart of the facility following a $24.5 million private investment and a $1 million state grant.
The owners, BMI Group, used the occasion to highlight the site’s future as a “shared-resource” facility. This model could accommodate seven to ten different businesses working in the same space and share the costs of the existing power and steam systems. This collaborative approach has already attracted the Dutch company Olus, a livestock feed additive manufacturer, as a partner. BMI Group CEO Paul Veldman noted that by sharing these infrastructure costs, the site can eventually employ more people than it did as a traditional mill.
Progress is already being made with roughly 40 employees back at work, including many veteran staff members who previously worked for the Domtar and Dunn mills. Machine No. 8 is currently producing specialty paper for national food brands, and the staff is expected to grow to 80 people over the next two years when Machine No. 7 returns to service.
By bringing in more partners to fill the facility, officials expect the total workforce to reach more than 200 jobs by 2028.
