Baltimore, MD (2007-07-06): Hydro announced today that it will cease aluminum casting operations at its Ellenville, New York facility, affecting about 55 casthouse employees. "We will close, or sell, the facility by fall," said Yogi Shergill, head of Hydro's Metal Products operations in North America; "we expect to conclude Ellenville operations by the end of September."

Today's announcement comes four months after the company announced that it would exit the extrusion business at Ellenville. Since that time, extrusion operations have been phased out and today only a small portion of the 260+ extrusion employees remain on the site preparing equipment for sale or dismantling.

At the time of the extrusion announcement, Hydro stated their intention to continue serving the extrusion billet market from Ellenville. The Ellenville casthouse had recently undergone a more than $20 million renovation and expansion, significantly improving plant productivity, safety and quality and making it one of the most advanced facilities of its type in North America.

"We would certainly prefer to retain Ellenville, as we have made a considerable investment in the facility and in actions to improve operations. However, utility and transportation costs of the site, combined with the weakness in the North American extrusion market, make it impossible to envision Ellenville meeting Hydro's expectations in the foreseeable future. We are deeply disappointed that we must take this action," said Yogi Shergill, head of Hydro's North American Metal unit.

While closure of the casthouse is targeted for early fall, Hydro said that a sale of the facility is being explored. "We have had interest from potential buyers, and are in active discussions," noted Shergill. "However, we must move forward with closure planning." The company plans to make Ellenville employees aware of openings at its other North American locations, and will facilitate relocation of Ellenville personnel to other locations if they are successful in their application. Employees without relocation opportunities will be offered severance as well as outplacement assistance. Details will be finalized following discussions with Locals 7338 and 7338-A of the United Steelworkers of America, who represent employees at the site.

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