More than 100 jobs have been put at risk after a packaging firm announced plans to axe its Ellesmere Port plant.
Saica Pack has confirmed that its North Road site will shut its doors at the end of 2022, with operations being consolidated at its existing Wigan base.
A total of 106 employees are now at risk of redundancy, although the company said it is trying to relocate as many staff as possible to alternative sites, including one in Deeside,
READ MORE: Prominent Liverpool city centre hotel sold in deal worth around £12m
Saica Pack, which has several sites across the º£½ÇÊÓƵ, Europe and in the United States specialising in various packaging services, said the decision to close its Ellesmere Port base was made "reluctantly" however it will help ensure the firm's "competitiveness and future growth" in the region.
A spokesperson said: "Demand for corrugated cardboard packaging is rising significantly in the º£½ÇÊÓƵ due to increased demand for home deliveries and environmentally-friendly packaging.
"In this evolving market, operational efficiency is critical to our ability to compete and stay at the forefront of the industry.
Don't miss a thing - sign up for your free North West newsletter - and follow us on LinkedIn
Email newsletters
BusinessLive is your home for business news from around the North West- and you can stay in touch with all the latest news from Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, Cheshire, Lancashire and Cumbria through our email alerts.
You can sign up to receive daily morning news bulletins from every region we cover and to weekly email bulletins covering key economic sectors from manufacturing to technology and enterprise. And we'll send out breaking news alerts for any stories we think you can't miss.
Visit our email preference centre to sign up to all the latest news from BusinessLive.
For all the latest stories, views, polls and more - and the news as it breaks - .
"In order to ensure our competitiveness and future growth in the North West and offer the best possible service to our customers, we are proposing to consolidate our Wigan and Ellesmere Port operations into a single location.
"While the proposed changes will generate significant investment and new jobs in Wigan, reluctantly they would mean our operation at Ellesmere Port would close by the end of 2022, with employees at risk of redundancy.
"While Ellesmere Port has been an important site for many years, unfortunately the buildings and site infrastructure are such that it is not economical to develop them to the level required to be competitive in the long term.
"Where possible, we will of course endeavour to find opportunities to redeploy staff at other sites within the group, such as our Saica Flex site in Deeside where we have recently proposed creating 26 new roles.
"We are currently in a period of consultation with the Union and employee representatives."
