Vigor Industrial

Vigor Industrial is an American shipbuilding, shiprepair, and industrial service provider in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. Based in Portland, Oregon, the company consists of several subsidiary companies for a combined total of seven facilities with ten drydocks, more than 17,000 feet of pier space, and over 2,000 employees.

History

In the Northwest the company history goes back nearly 100 years, with Todd Pacific in Washington and Kaiser Shipyard in Oregon. In 1916 the Harbor Island facility in Seattle began operations as Todd Pacific Shipyards. In 1942 the Swan Island facility in Portland began operations as Kaiser Shipyards. 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.

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 before recorded history.

Shipbuilding and ship repairs, both commercial and military, are referred to as "naval engineering". The construction of boats is a similar activity called boat building.

The dismantling of ships is called ship breaking.

History

Prehistory

Archaeological evidence indicates that humans arrived on Borneo at least 120,000 years ago, probably by sea from the Asian mainland during an ice age period when the sea was lower and distances between islands shorter (See History of Borneo and Papua New Guinea). The ancestors of Australian Aborigines and New Guineans also went across the Lombok Strait to Sahul by boat over 50,000 years ago.

4th millennium BC