News Limited is to install a new four-tower KBA Comet in the first stage of a multimillion dollar upgrade of its Darwin print facility.

The new single-width press will print the ‘Northern Territory News’ and ‘Sunday Territorian’ plus other work.

News group technical manager Barry Johnson says that like the Comet commissioned at News’ ‘Mercury’ site in Hobart, Tasmania, last year, the press will have a single folder with a double-delivery, a novel configuration designed to insure against breakdowns without the cost of duplication.

News has a larger KBA Comet press at the ‘Gold Coast Bulletin’ print site in Molendinar, Queensland.

More clever planning sees the reelstands installed on the operator side of the pressline on an existing slab, requiring new foundations for the units and folder only. A new Ferag forwarding station and stackers are to be installed, but Johnson says there are no plans for mechanised inserting or other mailroom equipment at this stage.

The new facility should be in production by next October, with architectural planning currently underway in preparation for building works to start when the wet season ends.

The press replaces a five-unit manroland Uniman 2/2 which has been reconfigured “a few times” to provide half decks and additional colour since it was installed in 1984. Like the 1977 Goss Community which preceded it following Darwin’s Cyclone Tracy, the project was supervised by Johnson, who announced his retirement last week.