A spokesman told ProPrint that the decision to relocate production of The Cairns Post was a sensible efficiency that would result in 20 redundancies.

“We have a state-of-the-art press in Townsville offering better colour availability with back-to-back four-colour and better quality. There are obvious efficiencies in operating a single print site,” he said.

[Related: Cairns plant threatened by cyclone]

News Ltd announced restructuring plans in June but it didn’t reveal how many jobs would be cut or what would happen to its 11 coldest web offset printing plants across the country. The strategy followed rival Fairfax’s announcement to cut 1,900 staff and close downs its metro printing plants.

Cairns’ Manroland Uniman double-width press, which was installed in 1986, will be scrapped, said the spokesman.

Townsville employs 60 fulltime equivalents and houses a Manroland Geoman 3/8 and two folders, he said.

It prints the Townsville Bulletin, The Australian, The Weekend Australian, The Australian Financial Review, The Courier-Mail, The Sunday Mail and some community newspapers, he said.

News Limited is thought to print 11 million newspapers per week at its sites across Australia.

[Related: Newspapers in flux]

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