Jeffboat Laying Off 120 in Indiana

Jeffersonville, Indiana-based barge manufacturer Jeffboat will lay off 120 at its plant on the Ohio river.

The plant currently employs 1,220 at the facility. The firm blames the global economic meltdown for a decrease in orders.

The cuts target manufacturing, and not the firm’s barge operations unit. Some salaried employees will be offered buyout packages.

The job cuts will leave the division of American Commercial Lines Inc. with about 1,100 workers at the Jeffersonville facility.

Jeffboat is the largest inland shipbuilder in the United States. It is the second-largest builder of barges. It is most notable for building the General Jackson showboat, the Mississippi Queen steamboat, and the Casino Aztar riverboat casino.