A Raleigh company that provides shipping, transportation and various support services for pharmaceutical companies and other customers is seeking to hire more than 50 drivers as its business expands.

Longistics will hold a job fair at its headquarters on Saturday to find qualified candidates. The average starting salary for its drivers is $60,000 a year.

The private company, run by the husband-and-wife team of Duane and Pat Long, has won several new contracts and is also seeing a pickup in business with existing customers.

An international shipping and logistics company plans to lay off 115 workers at its Research Triangle Park facility after losing its contract with bankrupt Nortel Networks.

Keuhne + Nagel expects to begin layoffs in late August, it reported in a filing with the N.C. Commerce Department. The cuts will effect "the majority, if not all, of the employees at the facility" at 4001 E. Chapel Hill Nelson Highway, the company wrote. "At this point, it is unclear whether it will be necessary to close the entire facility."

The news illustrates the compounded effect that losing a major employer can have to this region's economy as various contractors and suppliers are hurt. Nortel filed for bankruptcy in January 2009 and has been selling off and winding down its operations in RTP. That campus was once one of the Triangle's biggest employers, with nearly 10,000 workers at its peak.