Gov. David Ige said the state plans to put in place a rapid response team to help the 645 workers at Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. who will lose their jobs beginning in March.

Alexander & Baldwin Inc., parent company of HC&S, announced Wednesday that the last sugar plantation in Hawaii will cease operations before the end of 2016.

The company has 675 employees and 30 will continue to be employed after the plantation closes, the company said.

The other 645 employees — some working at the plantation for more than 30 years — will be laid off as their specific functions are completed.

Ige said in a statement that the team from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations will assist the workers with unemployment compensation, career transition, training for new jobs and job placement.

Displaced workers can apply for unemployment insurance.

To file for unemployment insurance, workers need to create an account through the Claimant Services portal at the state’s Unemployment Insurance website: huiclaims.hawaii.gov.

Those eligible will receive their first check approximately three weeks after the claim is filed. The claim is effective from the week that it is filed, not from the date someone becomes unemployed. The unemployment insurance handbook can be found at 1.usa.gov/1IRPbd3.

A&B said it will offer all employees severance payments and plans to pay more than the International Longshore and Warehouse Union contract requires. A&B declined to disclose figures.

Retirement benefits accrued by eligible employees, retirees, and past employees will not be affected. The company also said it will consider displaced employees for positions in its new operations and give HC&S employees preference to lease lots in order to start their own farming operations.

Labor Department spokesman Bill Kunstman said HC&S contacted the department director, and the staff followed up to start the discussion about the services. The Labor Department also will work with the ILWU.

Kunstman said the department will go to the job site, if possible, with the unemployment insurance division to show workers how to apply for unemployment insurance, offer workforce development and assessments as well as job-related counseling. The state also provides retraining or training programs to help workers with the job search.

“We try to get them employed again or provide them the skills and services they need to join the workforce as soon as possible,” Kunstman said.

Because of the size of the workforce, Kunstman said, the state probably would conduct multiple sessions.

Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa said he has assigned Managing Director Keith Regan to work with HC&S to see what kind of help the county can provide the workers.

“Our hearts go out to the workers whose jobs will be affected by this transition,” Arakawa said. “We hope that they can be absorbed back into the workforce without delay and the county will assist in any way we can.”

Unemployment Benefits Handbook