Jeffboat to lay off 226 employees by May 2018

The layoffs are a response to “a decrease in the demand for the vessels that Jeffboat manufactures at the facility” at 1030 E. Market St., according to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN notice. The business creates custom ocean vessels and towboats, but mostly inland barges, and has since 1938.

This is the second round of layoffs announced in the past few months. The company announced it would lay off approximately 278 employees in November. Anywhere from 800 to 1,000 people are employed at the shipyard at any one time, depending on what kind of projects on which the company is working, according to News and Tribune archives.

The notice notes that the facility does not currently intend to close, but expects the layoffs to be permanent.