JEFFERSONVILLE —
Two weeks after American Commercial Lines Inc. reached a deadline for salaried employees to accept a voluntary buyout agreement, the company announced it is hiring.
Jeffboat, ACL’s manufacturing division, is recalling about 200 hourly employees and hiring several salaried supervisory personnel over the next seven weeks in order to build an increased number of barges in 2011, according to a press release. The majority of the workers being recalled will be part of the 240 to 250 Teamsters Local 89 members that have been laid off.
“I think it’s great that there’s going to be guys getting back on the job,” said Jeff Cooper, trustee and assistant to the president of Teamsters Local 89.
The need for additional employees is due to an increase in demand for barges, the company said.
“Customers are beginning to build new barges again as demand for moving freight on the inland waterways system returns in our recovering economy,” said ACL President and CEO Mike Ryan in the release.
“Our active Jeffboat production lines are nearly sold out for 2011 and we are starting to contract for business in 2012.”
As part of ACL’s strategic plan, the company over the past year had been streamlining its fleet and recently began updating its old barges. Previously, the updating of the fleet had been put on hold.
“Most barge companies need to replace thousands of barges over the next several years as the oldest units are retired and sold for scrap,” Ryan said in the release. “During the recession, most barge carriers postponed the use of capital for new barges.”
To update and replenish its fleet, ACL will be building between 75 and 100 liquid and dry barges at Jeffboat in 2011, according to the release. However, the demand for the additional workers needed to complete the barges may not be permanent.
“They told us they’ve got work on the books through November,” Cooper said.
The 200 workers will add to the about 615 currently on the job at Jeffboat, he said.
The aforementioned supervisory positions will be hired by ACL, which offered a voluntary separation agreement in mid-February for land-based, salaried employees and was set to affect less than 10 percent of that personnel, said Kim Durbin, spokeswoman for ACL in a previous report.
Multiple calls made to ACL were not returned as of press time.
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Jeffboat is recalling about 200 hourly employees and hiring several supervisors over the next seven weeks in order to keep up with growing demand for barges. Staff photo by C.E. Branham
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