It is our responsibility at PCA to ensure that, first and foremost, we help provide for the well-being of our more than 15,000 employees and their families.
Yesterday, we reported first quarter net income of $142 million or $1.49 per share.
First quarter net income included special items expenses of $0.01 per share, related primarily to costs and expenses associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Excluding special items, first quarter 2020 net income was $143 million or $1.50 per share compared to the first quarter of 2019 net income of $187 million or $1.98 per share.
First quarter net sales were $1.7 billion in both 2020 and 2019.
Total company EBITDA for the first quarter, excluding special items, was $311 million in 2020 and $371 million in 2019.
Excluding special items, the $0.48 per share decrease in first quarter 2020 earnings compared to the first quarter of 2019 was driven primarily by lower prices and mix in our Packaging segment of $0.64 and Paper segment of $0.05; lower volumes in our Paper segment of $0.03; higher annual outage expenses, $0.04; higher depreciation expense, $0.04; other expenses, $0.01; and higher tax rate, $0.01.
The items were partially offset by higher volumes in our Packaging segment of $0.14; lower operating costs of $0.09; lower converting costs, $0.04; lower freight and logistics costs, $0.01; and lower interest expense, $0.04; and nonoperating pension expense, $0.02.
The results were $0.30 above the first quarter guidance of $1.20 per share, primarily due to higher volumes in our Packaging segment of $0.03 and our Paper segment of $0.01, higher prices and mix in the Packaging segment of $0.02 and lower operating costs of $0.15, resulting from the excellent fiber and energy usage and lower input prices in our mills.
Freight and logistics costs were lower than expected by $0.03, as were converting costs, annual outage costs and other expenses, each lower than expectations by $0.02 per share.
EBITDA, excluding special items in the first quarter of 2020 of $290 million with sales of $1.5 billion resulted in a margin of 20% versus last year's EBITDA of $334 million and sales of $1.5 billion or a 23% margin.
Our containerboard production allowed us to maintain our industry-leading integration rate of approximately 95% by supplying the necessary containerboard to our box plants, who achieved an all-time record for total box shipments as well as a new first quarter shipments per day record.
As Mark indicated, our corrugated products plants achieved a new all-time record for total box shipments, which were up 5.6% over last year as well as a new first quarter record in shipments per day, which were up 3.9% compared to last year's first quarter.
Outside sales volume of containerboard was 13% above last year's first quarter, primarily attributable to increased domestic demand with export demand slightly higher as well.
Domestic containerboard and corrugated products prices and mix together were $0.54 per share below the first quarter of 2019 and down $0.06 per share compared to the fourth quarter of 2019.
Export containerboard prices were down about $0.10 per share versus last year's first quarter and flat compared to the fourth quarter of 2019.
EBITDA, excluding special items in the first quarter of $42 million with sales of $217 million or 19% margin compared to the first quarter of 2019 EBITDA of $55 million and sales of $240 million or 23% margin.
Our Paper volume was also lower as expected, primarily due to the scheduled maintenance outage at our Jackson, Alabama mill; however, it was about 3% higher than we had assumed.
We had record first quarter cash generation with cash provided by operations of $237 million and record first quarter free cash flow of $166 million.
The primary uses of cash during the quarter included capital expenditures of $71 million and common stock dividends of $75 million.
We ended the quarter with $764 million of cash on hand or $913 million, including the cash we recently moved to marketable securities.
Our liquidity at March 31 of over $1.2 billion is the highest ever for our company.
And with the refinancing we completed in the fourth quarter of 2019, we have no debt maturities for the next 3.5 years.
Regarding our announcement of taking our paper mill in Jackson, Alabama down for the months of May and June, our estimated second quarter financial impact of this decision is approximately $30 million or $0.24 per share.
The actual impact in the first quarter was $0.22 per share, and the estimated impact by quarter for the remainder of the year is now $0.09 per share in the second quarter, $0.16 in the third and $0.34 per share in the fourth quarter.
The full year estimate remains at $0.81 per share, as we mentioned previously.
Also, our full year interest expense is now expected to be $88 million versus $81 million.
And our net cash interest is now estimated to be $92 million versus $84 million, primarily due to lower expected interest income.
Our cash tax rate estimate is now slightly lower than our earlier estimate of 19%, partially due to the downtime we announced at our Jackson mill, and our effective tax rate remains at approximately 25%.
After a thorough review of our capital spending plans, we are not changing the range of spending we provided previously, which was between $400 million to $425 million, nor are we changing our full year outlook for pension contributions or depreciation.
However, due to the uncertain scope and duration of the pandemic and the timing of the global recovery and economic normalization, we're not able to properly quantify our guidance for the second quarter.
We know that we experienced a demand surge in our Packaging business in the first quarter, and the second quarter has also begun quite strong as well.

Summary:
Yesterday, we reported first quarter net income of $142 million or $1.49 per share.
Excluding special items, first quarter 2020 net income was $143 million or $1.50 per share compared to the first quarter of 2019 net income of $187 million or $1.98 per share.
First quarter net sales were $1.7 billion in both 2020 and 2019.
However, due to the uncertain scope and duration of the pandemic and the timing of the global recovery and economic normalization, we're not able to properly quantify our guidance for the second quarter.
We know that we experienced a demand surge in our Packaging business in the first quarter, and the second quarter has also begun quite strong as well.