Columbia Steel Casting Co., a Portland metal casting company that dates back more than a century, told state regulators Wednesday it planned to shut down operations at its north Portland foundry and lay off most of its workforce.

The company said 225 employees, many represented by three different unions, would be laid off beginning in October. The filing indicated the closure would be permanent, though a letter to employees indicated that the company was in talks with “various companies” about buying the foundry and maintaining operations.

CEO Martha Cox told employees that the company had faced fierce competition from overseas competitors, some of them subsidized by their governments. She said state and local environmental regulations had also put the company at a disadvantage to those competitors.

The fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic had exacerbated the company’s issues, Cox said in the letter, with hang-ups in the global supply chain disrupting shipments to a key customer and travel restrictions putting a damper on sales. The company also struggled to hire and retain employees, even, Cox said, after substantial pay raises.

She said in an email that production would cease by the end of the year, and a small number of employees would remain to wind down operations.

Columbia Steel was founded in 1901 and claims to be the first steel foundry in the Northwest. It manufactured industrial parts, specializing in high-wear components that need to be replaced from time to time because of grinding, impact or heat.

The company today operates out of an 87-acre campus at North Bloss Avenue in Portland, just south of the Columbia Slough. The company has been owned and operated for generations by the descendants of Hobart M. Bird, who started as a foundry worker for the company. Cox is his granddaughter.