British defense giant BAE Systems Plc announced hundreds more layoffs at its shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia.
The company on Tuesday said it has notified about 530 employees that they would be laid off on or around March 18, in addition to the 400 jobs recently eliminated from the site.
"These further reductions are necessary to align the Norfolk shipyard with lower demand for its services, resulting from fewer Navy ships homeported in the region available for maintenance and modernization, and the Navy's changes to its scheduling for repair services," BAE said in a statement.
Workers at the yard have performed maintenance and repairs on guided missile cruisers, guided missile destroyers and large deck amphibious ships as part of multi-year contracts with the sea service. They also worked on other vessels, including aircraft carriers, frigates and amphibious assault ships.
The location in September employed about 1,475 people. After 400 jobs were eliminated last month, the figure dropped to about 1,075, where it currently stands. The latest round of reductions will bring that number to about 545 employees come spring.
"We're certainly working with the Navy to identify opportunities to bring additional work to the yard," Karl Johnson, a spokesman for the company's ship repair business, said in a telephone interview. "If that happens, then there could be changes to the number of people impacted."
The 109-acre site and features four piers and two dry docks. It's one of seven shipyards the company operates in Alabama, Florida, California, Virginia and Hawaii. BAE was the Pentagon's eight-largest defense contractor in fiscal 2015, which ended Sept. 30, with at least $4.3 billion in defense contracts, according to usaspending.gov.
