The New Haven Register’s printing operations — that is, its actual printing press and distribution center — will close down in March, the New Haven Independent reported on Tuesday.

In a Monday letter to Andrea Slusarz of the Connecticut Department of Labor, New Haven Register Publisher Tom Wiley said around 105 people will lose their jobs as a result of the paper’s decision to stop the presses. The Register will instead rely on the Hartford Courant to print the paper. Two other newspapers owned by the Journal East Register Company will also now be printed in Hartford — the Middletown Press and the Torrington Register.

The change is not a surprise, given the Register’s recent shift to focus on online offerings, emphasizing writing and editing over production, according to the Independent. Wiley said in his letter that the New Haven facility will not be entirely shutdown. Employees who operate the press and work in the mail room will likely be more affected by the cuts than those in the trucking division, the company’s Connecticut Group Editor Matt DeRienzo said.

The New Haven Register was founded in 1812 and is the only print paper in the Elm City, other than the News.

GAVAN GIDEON