Vigor Industrial (Vigor) is an American
shipbuilding
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befor ...
,
shiprepair
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befor ...
, and industrial service provider in the
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...
and
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
. Based in
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...
, the company consists of several subsidiary companies for a combined total of seven facilities with ten
drydock
A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...
s, more than 17,000 feet of
pier
image:Brighton Pier, Brighton, East Sussex, England-2Oct2011 (1).jpg, Seaside pleasure pier in Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th century.
A pier is a raised structure that rises above a body of ...
space, and over 2,000 employees.
History
In the Northwest the company history goes back nearly 100 years, with
Todd Pacific
Todd Pacific Shipyards, Los Angeles Division was a shipyard in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California. Before applying its last corporate name, the shipyard had been called Los Angeles Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company and Todd Shipyards, Los Angeles ...
in Washington and
Kaiser Shipyard
The Kaiser Shipyards were seven major shipbuilding yards located on the United States west coast during World War II. Kaiser ranked 20th among U.S. corporations in the value of wartime production contracts. The shipyards were owned by the Kaiser ...
in Oregon. In 1916 the
Harbor Island
Harbor Island is an artificial island in the mouth of the Duwamish River in Seattle, Washington, US, where it empties into Elliott Bay. Built by the Puget Sound Bridge and Dredging Company, it was completed in 1909 and was then the largest art ...
facility in Seattle began operations as
Todd Pacific Shipyards
Vigor Shipyards is the current entity operating the former Todd Shipyards after its acquisition in 2011. Todd Shipyards was founded in 1916, which owned and operated shipyards on the West Coast of the United States, East Coast of the United St ...
. In 1942 the
Swan Island facility in Portland began operations as
Kaiser Shipyards
The Kaiser Shipyards were seven major shipbuilding yards located on the West Coast of the United States, United States west coast during World War II. Kaiser ranked 20th among U.S. corporations in the value of wartime production contracts. The s ...
. In 1995, Vigor Industrial owner, Frank Foti bought Cascade General on the verge of bankruptcy from its previous owners, operating on leased space from the
Port of Portland shipyard. With funding from the then-publicly traded Cammell Laird PLC in the UK, Transamerica Capital and Heller Capital, the Swan Island facility was purchased from the port in 2000 and the name Vigor Industrial was established. In 2002, Vigor Industrial expanded operations to Port Angeles, WA with its subsidiary Washington Marine Repair. In 2010, purchased Marine Industries Northwest (MINI) in Tacoma, WA. In 2011 they purchased Todd Pacific's operations in Seattle, Bremerton, and Everett. In 2012 they acquired Alaska Ship & Drydock in Ketchikan, Alaska.
In May 2014, the company announced that it was
merging
Merge, merging, or merger may refer to:
Concepts
* Merge (traffic), the reduction of the number of lanes on a road
* Merge (linguistics), a basic syntactic operation in generative syntax in the Minimalist Program
* Merger (politics), the comb ...
with
Oregon Iron Works
Oregon Iron Works, Inc. (OIW) is an American manufacturer of complex structural components and systems and specialized vehicles, located in the Clackamas area in the southeastern suburbs of Portland, Oregon (within the Portland metropolitan area ...
, another manufacturer based in the Portland area.
Although both companies referred to it as a "merger", the deal made Oregon Iron Works a division of Vigor,
[ a wholly owned subsidiary.][
In March 2015, Vigor Industrial acquired Seattle-based aluminum workboat manufacturer Kvichak Marine Industries.
Vigor announced in late 2017 that it had won a $1 billion contract to produce U.S. Army landing craft, the largest contract in its history. The company selected ]Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, located in Clark County. Incorporated in 1857, Vancouver has a population of 190,915 as of the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Was ...
as the production site for the vessels.
In July 2019, The Carlyle Group
The Carlyle Group is a multinational private equity, alternative asset management and financial services corporation based in the United States with $376 billion of assets under management. It specializes in private equity, real assets, and pri ...
and Stellex Capital Management agreed to acquire and merge Vigor Industrial with MHI Holdings LLC MHI may refer to:
* Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Tokyo, Japan
* Montreal Heart Institute
The Montreal Heart Institute (MHI) (French: ''Institut de Cardiologie de Montréal''), in Montreal, Quebec, is a specialty hospital dedicated to the develop ...
.
Vigor Industrial companies
Vigor Industrial has several subsidiary companies which each focus on different specialties:
* Vigor Fab is Vigor's Pacific Northwest new-build subsidiary serving the needs of maritime customers from its facilities in Portland, OR, and Seattle and Everett, WA.
* Vigor Alaska or provides new-build, heavy fabrication, ship repair, and maintenance services in Ketchikan, Alaska.[
* Vigor Marine specializes in commercial ship repair in Portland, OR, and Seattle, Tacoma and Everett, WA with the ability to mobilize teams to anywhere they are needed, including Hawaii.
* Washington Marine Repair provides resources for topside repair in Port Angeles, Washington.
* ]Vigor Shipyards
Vigor Shipyards is the current entity operating the former Todd Shipyards after its acquisition in 2011. Todd Shipyards was founded in 1916, which owned and operated shipyards on the West Coast of the United States, East Coast of the United St ...
handles maintenance for the Navy
A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...
and Coast Guard
A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to ...
in Seattle, Everett, and Bremerton, WA.
* Vigor Machine offers turbine and machining services from its facility in Portland, OR as well as on-site at customers' locations.
* Specialty Finishes and its Specialty Marine Decking unit provide industrial coating and marine decking services.
* Oregon Iron Works
Oregon Iron Works, Inc. (OIW) is an American manufacturer of complex structural components and systems and specialized vehicles, located in the Clackamas area in the southeastern suburbs of Portland, Oregon (within the Portland metropolitan area ...
(acquired in 2014)
* Vigor Ballard is a Seattle, WA-based shipyard which provides new-build small vessel for government agencies or forces, its predecessor is Kvichak Marine.
Facilities
Vigor Industrial has five Washington locations in Seattle, Tacoma, Everett, Bremerton and Port Angeles. They also have locations in Portland, Oregon and Ketchikan, Alaska. The seven facilities have a combined total of 10 drydocks and more than 17,000 feet in pier space and detailed in the table below.
Recent builds
"Vigor Industrial, Ketchikan AK"
. ''Shipbuilding History'', May 2012
References
External links
*
* https://web.archive.org/web/20120510075104/http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/5small/active/usbarge.htm
* https://web.archive.org/web/20120510101804/http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/2large/active/toddseattle.htm
{{Oregon Companies
2000 establishments in Oregon
Companies based in Portland, Oregon
American companies established in 2000
Shipbuilding companies of Oregon
Water transportation in Alaska
Manufacturing companies established in 2000