To facilitate long-term print contracts Transcontinental has ordered four triple-wide KBA Commander CT web offset presses destined for plants in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto in early 2010.
Photo above (left to right): Jean Denault, VP Procurement and Technology at Transcontinental; Remi Marcoux, Executive Chairman of the Board and Founder Transcontinental; Claus Bolza-Schünemann, KBA Deputy President; François Olivier, President and CEO of Transcontinental; Heinz Schmid, KBA North America Vice President Sales; Winfried Schenker, KBA Sales Director; Ted Markle, Transcontinental Sr. VP Newspaper Division.
The timing coincides with Transcontinental’s $1.7 billion contract with The Globe and Mail signed last year. That deal includes printing The Globe in all regions of Canada (except the Prairies) beginning in 2010 and running to 2028. At that announcement Transcontinental indicated it would be purchasing new heatset web presses capable of printing colour on every page and handling retail flyer business as well.
The four presses will have a total of 16 towers, four single and two double folders and six heatset dryers.
“Although the Daily News in New York can lay claim to the first triple-wide Commander CT installation in North America, we’ll be the first print operation worldwide with multiple press lines printing hybrid coldset/heatset products or coldset newspapers alongside heatset commercials," said Brian Reid, president of Transcontinental’s print sector, in a KBA release.
In related news, Transcontinental officially began printing the San Francisco Chronicle on its manroland web press in the new 338,000 sq.ft. plant in Freemont, California on July 6.
Although experiencing declining revenues this year, in late July Transcontinental signed new financing agreements for a total of $135 million—a five-year term loan of $50 million with the Société générale de financement du Québec and a six-year loan of $85 million from European bank HypoVereinsbank. The printer also secured another $25 million in the one-year credit facilities with its bank syndicate, providing the company a buffer in managing its capital expenditures.
The configuration of two of the four KBA web offset presses heading to Transcontinental.
