Southern Container Announces Closure of Schiffenhaus Box Plant

Smithtown, New York, USA, 17 April 2006 -- Southern Container Corp., Hauppauge, New York, announced today that it will close the Schiffenhaus box plant located in Suffern, New York. The move comes after a complete review of Southern Container Corp. business operations in the New York metro area.

"We have explored numerous alternatives to maintain the Suffern operations, but feel the closure is necessary to optimize our business in this area," states James Porter, president and COO of Southern Container Corp. Southern will continue to maintain operations at the Schiffenhaus Newark, New Jersey, facility, as well as the corrugated box plants in Dayton, New Jersey, Deer Park, New York, and the sheet plant in Hauppauge, New York. "Our capacity in these plants is more than sufficient to meet our customers' requirements and do so in a more effective manner. This closure will not affect our ability to service our customers," states Porter.

The operation shutdown in Suffern will begin in late June and continue through the end of the year.

Southern Container Corp. is the largest U. S. independent manufacturer of corrugated boxes. Existing facilities include eight large-scale corrugated box plants and two sheet plants. In addition, they are involved with six joint ventures, which complement their core business, specifically: Solvay Paperboard, the largest independent containerboard producer in North America; SCI-Canada, the largest pre-print operation in North America; SCI-California; GraphCorr, a manufacturer of micro-flute and litho laminate packaging; Pohlig Brothers, a folding carton and rigid box manufacturer; and MPG, a leading marketing products group. For further information, visit http:// www.southern-container.com.