Cape Charles concrete company lays off 100 workers

Bayshore Concrete Products Corp., Northampton County's largest private employer in the wake of Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital's departure, has announced it is laying off 100 employees.

The cuts are expected to take place from November through early 2018 as work tapers off on the company's portion of the $1 billion Bayonne Bridge project, a span linking Bayonne, New Jersey, with Staten Island, New York.

At the height of the Bayonne work, the Cape Charles facility employed 350 workers, Bayshore said in a press release Thursday, Sept. 28.

The Skanska U.S. subsidiary said it is working with state and local workforce development officials and providing counseling to affected employees. 

Bayshore Concrete Products Corp. was established in 1961 to supply infrastructure to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.

At the beginning of this year, it was the fourth-largest employer in Northampton, following, in order, Riverside Regional, Northampton County Schools and the county government, according to the Virginia Employment Commission.

The hospital moved to Onancock in Accomack County on Feb. 25, though, along with its nearly 700 employees.

The fate of the Bayshore workers appeared to be sealed when Bayshore didn't win a contract on the new tunnel project at the Bridge-Tunnel, said Northampton County Administrator Charles Kolakowski.

“When they’re dependent on them winning big contracts, you go up and down based on them being successful," he said.

The county plans to offer assistance to the company and state employment agencies on relocating the workers, Kolakowski added. 

More:Industrial accident reported at Bayshore Concrete

In 2014, Gov.. Terry McAuliffe used his first visit to the Eastern Shore to tout the addition of 135 jobs at Bayshore. He also presented a $150,000 check from state coffers for the expansion of the company's harbor.

“With this new investment and harbor infrastructure improvements, Bayshore will now be able to precast larger concrete components,” McAuliffe said at the time, calling the project “critical to the transportation infrastructure future of the commonwealth and what we can do all over the globe together.”

The layoffs underscore that the county needs to further diversify its economy, Kolakowski said.

“Certainly, it’s not good news, but it’s really just an ongoing effort," he said. "These are the things over the course of time that happen."

410-845-4630

On Twitter @Jeremy_Cox