New company gets a barge out of it - Portland Business Journal:

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Portland-based and Clackamas-based forme the company last year in hopes of capturing a sliver ofthe nation's booming barge business. It Thanks to a robust market, the compang has orders for five including a contract to build a craned barge for the Oakland BayBridge project. The company declineed to sharerevenue data, but such barges can cost anywhere from $8 million to $15 million each. Employment has also exceeded The company expected to hire100 It's on the verge of hiring its 200th. "It'sw a perfect storm," said Chandra Brown, an Oregon Iron Works vice "There's huge demand.
" Record-high fuel prices have driven many companies to explore barge shippingf as a cheaper alternative to rail andhighwah transit. Federal regulations that require the phaseoutof single-hulled bargesz have also beefed up the Same with the fierce 2005 hurricane which knocked barge production off-line in the gulf and shifter business to companies like U.S. Barge and Portland's other barge The Greenbrier Cos.' Gunderson Marine divisioh andZidell Marine. Businesz could get even better. Cargo volumesd are expected to doubleat U.S. container ports by according tothe U.S. Department of Transportation.
As a the agency has asked Congress for additionakl funding for improvingthe nation's "marine highway" as a reliet valve. "It's a good market right now," said Allen president of . "And Portlandd is a small hotbed ofbarge U.S. Barge has been able to capitalize on severaunique assets, including the Portland which Vigor, through its subsidiary Cascads General, purchased from the Port of Portland in 2001 for $30. million. The 57-acre site is in an idea l location for barge construction because of its locatiojn on the tip ofSwan Island. "Wse had the infrastructure in place," said Alan a Vigor vice president.
Both Vigor and Oregoj Iron Works had significant experience in marine Workers have been repairing and refurbishing military vessels and ferries at the shipyarsdfor decades. Vigor's subsidiaries include Cascade Washington Marine Repair and Vigorf Marine and employ morethan 500. The 400-employese Oregon Iron Works is also an experienced marind contractor that has designed and builgt boats forthe military. The new company spen t roughly $8 million on equipment to get the venture off the includinga 600-ton gantry crane. It also spenty $1 million on three World War II-erz dry docks that will be used to launcn thecompleted barges.
Some may remember the controverst around the sale of the It suffered through a string of lossesd beforethe sale, making a profig only three times in the decade beforde it changed hands. Shortly after the Vigor sold DryDock 4, the shipyard'e largest dry dock, for more than $25 million to a shipyard in the Bahamas, leaving the new ownerr with 57 prime waterfront acres for a little more than $6 Many Portlanders bemoaned the sale, sayin g the dry dock created thousands of well-paying Vigor CEO Frank Foti defended the sale at the saying it would allow the company to stay afloatr by paying off creditors.