Cabka's US operations remain closed after flooding

A St. Louis area plastic pallet maker remains closed following late July flooding caused by an historic amount of rainfall.

Cabka NV's Hazelwood, Mo., facility was evacuated amid heavy rains on July 27 and no employees were injured.

The company said Aug. 5 the facility will not reopen anytime soon.

"After a first assessment of the damages, the Company concludes that production is not going to restart in the short term on its premises in Hazelwood, Missouri, one of Cabka's production plants representing roughly 15 percent of Cabka's overall production capacity," Cabka said in a statement.

"That said, all essential injection molding tools have been successfully recovered, and will be used to continue supply to key customers using alternative production capacities. Further assessments are on-going," the company said.

Cabka, a publicly traded firm based in Amsterdam, plans to provide more details when first-half fiscal results are released Aug. 17.

"What's important is all the staff is safe and there are no injuries. It's only the plant itself," said David Brilleslijper, investor and press contact for the Amsterdam-based company, in a phone interview from Europe on the day of the flooding.

Cabka said the Hazelwood facility represents about 15 percent of the company total capacity. The firm indicated it recycles 150 kilotons of plastics into about 10 million pallets and 200,000 large containers each year. The firm has 700 workers in Europe and the United States.

The National Weather Service in St. Louis indicated more than 8 inches of rain hit the region overnight July 27, breaking a record that dated back to 1915.

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