For Immediate Release

Public Relations Division
Public Affairs Department
1170 Eighth Avenue
Bethlehem, PA 18016-7699
(610) 694-3711 - Phone
(610) 694-1509 - Fax

BETHLEHEM, Pa., March 12, 1997 - Bethlehem Steel Corporation said today that it has issued a notice under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act (WARN) of a planned permanent shutdown of its BethShip Sparrows Point Yard. Bethlehem also said the Yard will take no additional orders other than those which could be completed within the timeframe of its current order book unless a sales agreement for the Yard can be promptly completed.

Bethlehem said it was issuing this notice at this time because of the breakdown in negotiations between WHX Corporation, which is negotiating to buy the yard, and the Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America/International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

Bethlehem announced in October 1996 that it planned to sell the Yard as part of a comprehensive restructuring plan and said at that time that if the Yard could not be sold it would be shut down. A restructuring charge for this comprehensive plan was recorded in the fourth quarter 1996. The Yard currently has about 900 workers.