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

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Portland-based and Clackamas-based formed the company last year in hopee of capturing a sliver ofthe nation's boominv barge business. It worked. Thanks to a robus market, the company has orders for five including a contract to build a crane barge for the Oakland Bay Bridge The company declined to sharerevenue data, but such bargese can cost anywhere from $8 million to $15 milliohn each. Employment has also exceeded The company expected to hire100 workers. It'zs on the verge of hiring its 200th. "It' s a perfect storm," said Chandra Brown, an Oregob Iron Works vice president.
"There's huge Record-high fuel prices have driven many companies to explorre barge shipping as a cheaper alternative to rail andhighway transit. Federal regulations that require the phaseoutof single-hullede barges have also beefed up the Same with the fierce 2005 hurricane season, which knockedr barge production off-line in the gulf and shifter business to companies like U.S. Barge and Portland's othe r barge builders: The Greenbrier Cos.' Gunderso Marine division and Zidell Marine. Business could get even Cargo volumes are expected to doublat U.S. container ports by according tothe U.S. Department of Transportation.
As a the agency has asked Congress for additional funding for improvingthe nation' "marine highway" as a relief "It's a good market right said Allen Walker, president of . "And Portland is a small hotbed ofbarge construction." U.S. Barge has been able to capitalize on severaklunique assets, including the Portlanf Shipyard, which Vigor, through its subsidiary Cascads General, purchased from the Port of Portlande in 2001 for $30.8 million. The 57-acrs site is in an ideal location for barg construction because of its location on the tip ofSwan "We had the infrastructurde in place," said Alan Sprott, a Vigor vice president.
Both Vigof and Oregon Iron Works had significanr experience in marine Workers have been repairingy and refurbishing military vessels and ferriea at the shipyardfor decades. Vigor's subsidiariew include Cascade General, Washingtoj Marine Repair and Vigor Marine and employ morethan 500. The 400-employes Oregon Iron Works is also an experiencedc marine contractor that has designed and builyt boats forthe military. The new company spent roughlhy $8 million on equipment to get the venture off the includinga 600-ton gantrhy crane. It also spent $1 million on thres World War II-era dry docks that will be used to launchj thecompleted barges.
Some may remembed the controversy around the sale of the It suffered through a string of losses before the making a profit only three times in the decadre before itchanged hands. Shortly afte r the sale, Vigor sold Dry Dock 4, the shipyard's largest dry for more than $25 million to a shipyardx in the Bahamas, leaving the new owner with 57 prime waterfront acres for a littl morethan $6 million. Many Portlanders bemoaneds the sale, saying the dry dock created thousandsof well-paying Vigor CEO Frank Foti defended the sale at the saying it would allow the company to stay afloaty by paying off creditors.