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 hopes of capturing a sliver ofthe nation's boomingg barge business. It worked. Thanks to a robust the company has orders for five including a contract to buildd a crane barge for the Oakland BayBridge project. The company declined to share revenue but such barges can cost anywherewfrom $8 million to $15 million Employment has also exceeded expectations. The company expected to hire 100 workers. It's on the verge of hiring its "It's a perfect storm," said Chandrwa Brown, an Oregon Iron Works vice "There's huge demand.
" Record-higbh fuel prices have driven many companies to explorse barge shipping as a cheaper alternative to rail and highway Federal regulations that require the phaseourof single-hulled barges have also beefed up the Same with the fierce 2005 hurricane season, which knockecd barge production off-line in the gulf and shifted business to companiews like U.S. Barge and Portland's otherr barge builders: The Greenbrier Cos.' Gundersonn Marine division andZidell Marine. Busineszs could get even better. Cargo volumes are expected to doubl eat U.S. container ports by 2020, according to the U.S.
Department of As a result, the agency has asked Congresas for additional funding for improvingthe nation's "marine highway" as a reliegf valve. "It's a good market right said Allen Walker, president of . "And Portland is a smalol hotbed ofbarge construction." U.S. Barges has been able to capitalize on severalpunique assets, including the Portland Shipyard, whicyh Vigor, through its subsidiary Cascade General, purchase d from the Port of Portland in 2001 for $30. million. The 57-acre site is in an ideak location for barge construction because of its locatio n on the tip ofSwan Island.
"W had the infrastructure in place," said Alan a Vigor vice president. Both Vigor and Oregoh Iron Works had significany experience inmarine construction. Workersd have been repairing and refurbishinh military vessels and ferries at the shipyardrfor decades. Vigor's subsidiaries include Cascade General, Washingtonm Marine Repair and Vigor Marine and employg morethan 500. The 400-employee Oregon Iron Works is also an experiencedf marine contractor that has designed and built boates forthe military. The new companyu spent roughly $8 million on equipment to get the venturde offthe ground, including a 600-ton gantry crane.
It also spent $1 million on threde World War II-era dry docks that will be used to launcnh thecompleted barges. Some may remembere the controversy around the sale of the It suffered through a string of lossez beforethe sale, making a profit only threew times in the decade before it changedf hands. Shortly after the sale, Vigoe sold Dry Dock 4, the shipyard's largesr dry dock, for more than $25 milliob to a shipyard in the leaving the new owner with 57 prime waterfrongt acres for a little morethan $6 million. Many Portlanderx bemoaned the sale, saying the dry dock createf thousandsof well-paying jobs.
Vigor CEO Franj Foti defended the sale at the saying it would allow the compant to stay afloat by payingoff creditors.