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Usibelli announced in late March that it is expecting up to a third of its 120-person work force to be laid off because it hasn't renewed a South Korean coal export contract, which represents nearly half of its 1.5 million ton annual production.
The contract expired at the end of 2001. If not renewed, layoffs could come as soon as May, Usibelli officials said.
Usibelli ships about 750,000 tons of coal annually to South Korea, via the railroad from Healy to the Port of Seward.
Pat Flynn, Alaska Railroad spokesman, said revenues for this year would not likely be affected, since the railroad will continue to ship three coal trains, or about 130 of the 80-ton cars weekly to Seward until mid-May. The railroad will then shift its focus to hauling gravel during the construction season.
The railroad had forecasted coal-hauling revenues to rise from $3.8 million this year to $4.2 million in 2006.
The railroad ships larger amounts of coal within the state for power generation in communities and military installations, Flynn said. Revenues from those operations should earn the railroad $5.75 million this year, according to railroad projections.
"It is important," Flynn said of coal hauling. "It is our No. 3 commodity in terms of freight revenue behind petroleum and gravel."
Flynn said the railroad had forecasted about 800,000 tons of South Korea-bound coal to be shipped this year.
The railroad shipped 700,000 tons in 2001, Flynn said.
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