The Navigator Company has approved the final investment decision of Euro30 million to convert its PM3 (Paper Machine No. 3), located at the integrated Pulp, Paper and Packaging complex in Setúbal, Portugal. With this project, the Company reinforces its position in the European market for flexible packaging papers (kraft papers), establishing itself as one of the sector's benchmark producers.
The new operation is scheduled to start in the Q3 2026, with an annual production capacity of 100 thousand tonnes, while retaining the operational flexibility to manufacture printing and writing papers.
The conversion will enable the production of papers in a grammage range between 30 and 90 grams per square metre, meeting the growing demand for sustainable solutions across various food and non-food segments, in line with the trend towards natural, renewable and biodegradable alternatives.
The new PM3 will become one of Europe's largest and most competitive machines for producing low grammage packaging papers, and the biggest in Southern Europe, positioning Navigator as the fourth largest producer in this market. The total investment amounts to Euro 30 million, significantly below the cost of a greenfield investment for similar capacity.
Production costs will benefit from Navigator's pulp integration and from wood consumption markedly lower than that of competitors, at between 2.35 and 2.85 m3 of wood per tonne of pulp, compared with the 5.0 to 5.5 m3 typical of European pine fibre, for example.
PM3 is a Valmet machine with a sheet width of 4.55 metres and a speed of 1,160 metres per minute. Installed in 1990, it underwent successive upgrades in 1997, 2003, 2007 and 2018.
The Navigator Company is an integrated producer of forest, pulp, paper, tissue, sustainable packaging solutions, and bioenergy, whose business is founded on state-of-the-art factories on a worldwide scale, with cutting-edge technology.
