West Fraser Now Calling McDavid Shutdown A ‘Closure’

December 3, 2008

 

West Fraser Timber Co. is now calling the shutdown of its McDavid mill a “closure”. The company had previously called the layoffs at the North Escambia facility a “market-related curtailment”.

West Fraser has also told Alabama officials that it is closing its facility in Citronelle, Alabama. A statement released by West Fraser says the company has “implemented the market-related closure of its sawmills located in McDavid, Florida and Citronelle, Alabama.”

About 75 jobs were eliminated on November 7 with the McDavid closure, and about 100 people lost their jobs with the Citronelle closure on Monday.

The McDavid mill produces Southern Yellow Pine lumber and has an annual production capacity of about 200 million board feet. The mill has been running just one shift, producing about 75 million board feet.

The annual capacity at the Citronelle mill was 70 million board feet, but the plant was operating at about 43 million board feet per year, manufacturing 2×4 and 2×6 lumber.

West Fraser reported a loss of $2 million, or about a nickel a share, on sales of $848 million in the third quarter of 2008. The company reported losses for the first nine months of of 2008 $68 million, or $1.58 per share.

Pictured above: The McDavid West Fraser mill. NorthEscambia.com file photo.

Comments

Comments are closed.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News