MIAMISBURG, Ohio — NewPage Corp. announced Monday  it has decided to take downtime on both paper machines at its Port Hawkesbury mill in Nova Scotia, Canada.

The decision for downtime is based on the company’s assessment of current market and economic conditions, according to a news release issued by NewPage.

The downtime will begin Sept. 10 for the mill’s PM1 newsprint machine and Sept. 16 for the PM2 supercalendered machine.

“NewPage will provide future updates on the mill based on an ongoing review of the situation and economic conditions during the anticipated downtime,” the release stated. “The decision was based on a combination of factors, including unfavorable exchange rates between the U.S. and Canadian dollars and high utility and shipping costs, which have rendered its Port Hawkesbury mill operations unprofitable for more than a year.”

NewPage is announcing its decision now in order to mitigate the potential impact on customers and has already taken into consideration the planned downtime for future scheduling.

According to the release, NewPage expects to fulfill certain pre-existing orders for its supercalendered papers from its mill in Duluth, Minn., but does not produce newsprint from any other mill location and therefore will be unable to serve these customers during the downtime.

“Despite the continued dedication and efforts of our team at Port Hawkesbury to drive cost improvements, extremely challenging economic conditions at this location have forced us to make this difficult, but necessary business decision,” George Martin, president and chief executive officer for NewPage said in a prepared statement.

Mark Lukacs, senior vice president, operations for NewPage said the downtime is “in no way a reflection” on the work force at the mill.

NewPage also operates paper mills in Rumford, Maine; Escanaba, Mich.; Pointe Stevens, Wis.; and Cumberland, Md.

The Rumford mill employs about 750 people and pays about 46 percent of the town property taxes.

Local 900 recording secretary Ron Hemingway said the possibility of the Miamisburg, Ohio-based company filing Chapter 11 did not come as a surprise. However, he said employees are concerned about the possibility.

The Rumford mill took several weeks of downtime last year, but so far this year, the mill has been running 24-hours-a-day, seven days a week.