Wheeling-Pitt hoping to move Pa. mill to Ohio

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Wheeling-Pittsburgh Corp. is negotiating with the United Steelworkers to relocate nearly 270 workers and most of its equipment from Allenport, Pa., to a mill in Ohio, a move the company says could eventually save up to $60 million a year.

Each year, Wheeling-Pitt ships more than 1 million tons of hot-rolled steel about 57 miles from Steubenville, Ohio, for processing at a cold mill in Allenport, then back to Steubenville, Chairman and CEO James Bouchard said Thursday.

Freight costs alone top $20 million a year.

“It hurts our delivery performance for the customers,” Bouchard said, “and the transportation costs are killing us.”

West Virginia-based Wheeling-Pitt said late last month it planned to invest $125 million in a new cold mill and galvanizing complex on the site of an old blast furnace in Steubenville. That apparently alarmed officials in Allenport, who told a local newspaper this week that workers would be laid off.

“No one is losing their jobs,” Bouchard told The Associated Press. “There will be no layoffs. All those workers at Allenport will have the opportunity to come to Steubenville and have the same jobs as they had before and run the same piece of equipment. We don’t want to hurt anyone.”

The company aims to relocate the mill in 12-18 months, he said.

The distance between the mills is about a 90-minute drive, so workers would likely make a longer commute or move their families. Bouchard said he is working with the USW to craft an attractive package for employees, but said the board of directors still must approve the plan.

“No decision has been made,” he said.

Nor would the Allenport plant necessarily close; a bridge-decking unit from Sharon, Pa., could be transferred to either Allenport or to Martins Ferry, Ohio, he said.