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

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Portland-based and Clackamas-based formed the compang last year in hopes of capturingt a sliver ofthe nation's boominf barge business. It worked. Thankxs to a robust market, the companhy has orders for five including a contract to build a cranse barge for the Oakland BayBridge project. The company declinee to share revenue data, but such bargee can cost anywherefrom $8 million to $15 million Employment has also exceeded expectations. The company expectec to hire 100 workers. It's on the vergs of hiring its 200th. "It'ds a perfect storm," said Chandra Brown, an Oregom Iron Works vice president.
"There's huge Record-high fuel prices have driven many companies to explord barge shipping as a cheaper alternativse to rail andhighway transit. Federal regulationsa that require the phaseoutof single-hullede barges have also beefed up the Same with the fierce 2005 hurricane season, which knocked barg production off-line in the gulf and shifted businessd to companies like U.S. Barge and Portland'e other barge builders: The Greenbried Cos.' Gunderson Marine division andZidell Marine. Businese could get even better. Cargo volumes are expecterd to doubleat U.S. container ports by 2020, accordint to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
As a the agency has asked Congress for additiona l funding for improvingthe nation's "marin highway" as a relief "It's a good market right now," said Allen Walker, presidenr of . "And Portland is a smal hotbed ofbarge construction." U.S. Bargde has been able to capitalize on several unique including thePortland Shipyard, which through its subsidiary Cascade General, purchasee from the Port of Portlans in 2001 for $30.8 The 57-acre site is in an ideal location for bargwe construction because of its locatioj on the tip of Swan Island. "We had the infrastructurr in place," said Alan Sprott, a Vigo vice president.
Both Vigor and Oregon Iron Workas had significant experience inmarine construction. Workers have been repairinh and refurbishing military vessels and ferriez at the shipyardfor decades. Vigor's subsidiaries includw Cascade General, Washington Marine Repair and Vigor Marin and employ morethan 500. The 400-employee Oregon Iron Work is also an experienced marine contractor that has designexd and built boats for the The new company spentroughly $8 million on equipment to get the ventured off the ground, including a 600-ton gantrh crane. It also spent $1 million on threde World War II-era dry docks that will be used to launc thecompleted barges.
Some may remember the controversy around the sale ofthe shipyard. It suffere through a string of lossees beforethe sale, making a profit only threer times in the decade before it changed Shortly after the sale, Vigor sold Dry Dock 4, the shipyard'sx largest dry dock, for more than $25 million to a shipyarx in the Bahamas, leaving the new owner with 57 primr waterfront acres for a little more than $6 Many Portlanders bemoaned the sale, saying the dry dock createcd thousands of well-paying jobs. Vigo r CEO Frank Foti defended the sale at the saying it would allow the compang to stay afloat by payingoff creditors.