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ports and wave energy platforms and also works on all kinds of ships. It made safety and environmental up- grades to the semi-submersible drill rig Kulluk and drillship Noble Dis- coverer before they set sail for rough Arctic waters in 2012. According to Vigor, the Þ rm works on more ves- sels in the Coast Guard ß eet than any other company. VigorÕs facilities stretch from Port- land, Oregon to Seward, Alaska. A 60- acre shipyard is located in Portland, another 27 acres on Harbor Island in Seattle, 16 acres in Ketchikan and 11 more acres in Seward. Vigor teams also work in the Navy shipyards in Bremer- ton and Everett. There is a smaller facility, Washington Marine Repair, in Port Angeles, Washington. Of the two shipyards in Alaska, one is in Ket- chikan at the south end of the wet panhandle and one is farther north in Seward on the Kenai Peninsula. VigorÕs recent acquisition of Seward ShipÕs Drydock improves the com- panyÕs ability to work on vessels from the Þ shing, oil and gas industry as well respond to expected increases in demand linked to Arctic drilling. The company is accustomed to working on vessels deployed in the cold North PaciÞ c, Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska. With yards located from Oregon to Alaska, there is plenty of opportunity to cross-pollinate between operations, Þ nd efÞ ciencies and work on design changes earlier in the planning process. Covelli says that each shipyard is training to do more than in the past. ÒPortland is a good example, where our teams are learning best practices and deploying experts from across the company to grow from simpler barges to more complex barges to now self- propelled vessels,Ó he says. CEO Frank Foti founded Vigor -- its name chosen for its connotations of energy and power Ð in 1995, when he took proceeds from selling a fam- ily-owned construction company in Cleveland, Ohio and bought the Cas- cade General shipyard in Portland, Oregon. By 2011, Vigor Industrial was buying Todd-PaciÞ c Shipyards, a leading West Coast builder of fer- ries and repairer of Navy ships, and a company nearly VigorÕs same size. The Vigor companies include Vigor Fab (formerly US Fab), Vigor Shipyards, Vigor Industrial, Specialty Finishes, Vigor Marine, Vigor Ma- chine, Vigor Alaska, Specialty Fin- ishes, Washington Marine Repair and Shipyard Commerce Center. There have been enough name-changes that the companyÕs brochures havenÕt kept up with them. New Projects, Healthy Backlog, and Workboats, too Vigor has several new projects in the pipeline: river tugs, very large barges and ferries among them. Two 422-foot tank barges of articulated tug and barge conÞ gurations will be some of the largest vessels constructed for Harley MarineÕs ß eet. The Òstate- of-the-art,Ó double-hulled fuel barges will be built at the Portland yard. Vigor is also building a 242-foot split- hull hopper barge with an advanced sealing mechanism to safeguard envi- ronmentally sensitive areas from po- tential leakage. In the Seattle area, historically the place where ferries have been built, the company is Þ nishing a 362-foot state ferry, the Tokitae, to carry 144 cars and 1500 people. Vigor has a contract for two of the ferries, plus there is the possibility of a third. In 2011, Vigor Þ nished three 64-car ferries for Wash- ington State. With a planned cost of $213 million, the ferries came in al-most $7 million under budget, with a total cost of $206 million. Foti and his company donÕt shy Download complete catalog www.aluminumandstainless.com Building an aluminum boat? Aluminum and Stainless, Inc. has all the metal.MARINE ALUMINUM5086 50835052 60615456Plate ? Sheet ? Rod ? BarPipe ? Tube ? Shapes Weld Wire ? Fittings STAINLESS STEEL 304L 316L 303 17-4BOAT SHAFTS 17-4 condition H1150Two locations: Lafayette, LA 800-252-9074New Orleans, LA 800-562-9022Aluminum and Stainless, Inc. Marine metals specialists since 1969.Lafayette New Orleans www.marinelink.com MN April14 Layout 32-49.indd 43MN April14 Layout 32-49.indd 433/20/2014 11:54:14 AM3/20/2014 11:54:14 AM
