West Fraser Inc. notified the state Jan. 9 it will shut down and clean up its Maxville sawmill plant, eliminating 79 jobs.
The termination date is March 19 but the effective closure is Jan. 19.
West Fraser notified the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity through a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notice.
The sawmill is at 6640 County Road 218, east of U.S. 301.
West Fraser said the employees were provided 60 days’ notice of the date of termination and that the closure is permanent. It said it will shut down and clean up the site over the next two months “due to business justifications.”
Except for the wind-down activities of Jan. 9-19, the facility will not operate during most of the 60-day period, West Fraser said.
The last day for bargaining unit employees will be Jan. 19 and then they will be sent home with pay and will be paid for the next 60 days, through March 19, at their regularly hourly rate and with benefits.
Their final paychecks will be March 29.
West Fraser told the state it has notified James Barks, the chief elected official of the United Steelworkers, as well as Mayor Donna Deegan, City Council President Ron Salem and Council Vice President Randy White.
The 19 salaried positions affected include the general manager, supervisors, controller and others.
The 60 hourly positions comprise 44 production workers and 16 maintenance employees.
West Fraser Communications Manager Joyce Wagenaar said Jan. 11 that the company has owned the Maxville mill since 2017.
“Our current focus remains on our employees and the safe shut down of the site. We are committed to minimizing impacts to employees and will be complying with the Federal WARN Act (Worker Adjustment and Re-training Notification Act) and we will also work to mitigate the impact on affected employees by offering work opportunities at other company operations where possible.”
West Fraser said its other Florida sawmills are in Whitehouse, Lake Butler and McDavid.
The Whitehouse sawmill is at 109 Halsema Road in West Jacksonville.
On Jan. 9, Westfraser.com announced the closure.
West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd., based in Vancouver, British Columbia, said it will close the Maxville sawmill and “indefinitely curtail operations” at its 140-employee sawmill in Huttig, Arkansas, by the end of the month.
“Today’s decision is the result of high fiber costs and soft lumber markets,” West Fraser said.
It said the moves will reduce West Fraser’s U.S. lumber capacity by about 270 million board feet.
“High fiber costs at Maxville and the current low-price commodity environment have impaired the ability of both mills to profitably operate. The closure of Maxville and the indefinite curtailment of the Huttig sawmill better aligns our U.S. lumber capacity with demand,” said the West Fraser news release on its website.
West Fraser anticipates taking restructuring and impairment charges of about $50 million in the fourth quarter of 2023, it said.
West Fraser says it is a diversified wood products company with more than 60 facilities in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe.
It produces lumber, engineered wood products, pulp, newsprint, wood chips, other residuals and renewable energy.
West Fraser said its products are used in home construction, repair and remodeling, industrial applications, papers, tissue and box materials.
This story has been updated with a statement from West Fraser.