Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. announced plans to close its Allenport, Pa., cold-rolled production facility and idle two of the three galvanizing lines at its Martins Ferry, Ohio, steel processing plant. Wheeling-Pittsburgh, a subsidiary of Illinois-based Esmark, has commenced issuing notice of closures to employees as required under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. The moves will affect about 360 workers – 240 in Allenport and 120 in Martins Ferry.
The company noted that the closures are consistent with the restructuring plans they first announced in November 2007. Wheeling-Pittsburgh has previously said it would spend $125 million on a new cold mill and galvanizing complex in Steubenville, Ohio, and that changes were also planned for operations in Beech Bottom, W.V.