Weyerhaeuser is halting operations indefinitely at its New Bern sawmill in North Carolina.

The North Carolina Commerce department received a WARN notice on July 18 stating that "there will be a total closure of the New Bern Lumber Mill facility located at 1482 Weyerhaeuser Road in Vanceboro, North Carolina by September 16, 2024. This closure is expected to be an indefinite curtailment which will exceed 30 days and will affect all employees at the New Bern Lumber Mill facility."

The notice said that 73 workers will be affected, and the closure of the plant, will be finalized on Sept. 16. 

An official with Weyerhaeuser told the New Bern Sun Journal, “We can confirm that in response to a combination of site-specific and market-related factors, we are indefinitely curtailing operations at our sawmill in New Bern, North Carolina."

We did not come to this decision lightly given the significant impact on our employees, their families and the surrounding community, where we have a long history. We conducted a thorough analysis to evaluate the mill’s long-term viability and competitiveness, but due to challenging market conditions, as well as the facility’s cost structure, lack of scale, and limited integration with other operations, we made the difficult decision to indefinitely curtail operations at the mill."

The company said that it is working to minimize the impact of the curtailment by providing opportunities at other Weyerhaeuser operations for certain employees and transition resources for those who are eligible. "We will continue to monitor market conditions to determine whether there’s an opportunity to resume operations in the future.”