Solution
Below code snippet shows how to split rows of a lengthy description.
<#list item.custcol_jj_longname_description?split("<br />") as paragraph>
<#if paragraph_index == 0>
<tr>
<td align="center" colspan="7" line-height="100%">${item.item}</td>
<td class="para" align="left" colspan="14" line-height="100%">${paragraph}</td>
<td align="center" colspan="3" line-height="100%">${item.quantity}</td>
<td align="center" colspan="4" line-height="100%">${item.rate}</td>
<td align="center" colspan="6" line-height="100%" padding-left="4px">${item.amount}</td>
</tr>
<#else>
<tr>
<td align="center" colspan="7"></td>
<td class="parag" align="left" colspan="11">${paragraph}</td>
<td align="center" colspan="3" ></td>
<td align="center" colspan="4"></td>
<td align="center" colspan="6" ></td>
</tr>
</#if>
</#list>
</#list><!-- end items --></table>