Page 57: of Marine News Magazine (March 2013)

mers. Beyond this, Vigor says that demand for such capa- bility is very strong, while capacity around the PaciÞ c has signiÞ cantly diminished over the past ten years. Rene Doiron, Vice President of Ship Repair, Vigor In- dustrial, told MarineNews in January, ÒOver the past de- cade, half a dozen medium and large drydocks have gone out of service around the PaciÞ c region. At the same time, demand to service ships in such drydocks has remained very strong. Looking at this situation, and our strong Þ nan-cial position, it absolutely made sense to make this invest- ment at this time. The new drydock will allow Vigor to win business from a range of private and government customers with large vessels.Ó ASD ASSEMBLY HALLNew ship construction in VigorÕs Ketchikan location is now supported by a new ship transfer system capable of launching and lifting marine vessels to land level berths. The new enclosed shipbuilding berth known as the Ship Assembly and Production Hall, and a new Module Fabrica- tion ship supporting modular ship construction processes will together be capable of fabricating modules, then as-sembling and outÞ tting the modules into ships up to 450 feet in length. In a public private partnership Alaska Ship & Drydock, a Vigor Industrial Company (ASD/Vigor), and the Alaska Industrial Development & Export Author- ity (AIDEA) opened the assembly hall in the fall of 2012. The project secures Ketchikan as a strategically located marine industrial center capable of building the new ships required to modernize and diversify AlaskaÕs marine vessel ß eets. AIDEA is the owner and ASD/Vigor is the private sector operator of the Ketchikan Shipyard. The new capacity, in combination with the yardÕs stra- tegically positioned, ice-free location, could allow Vigor to capture new business from a variety of sectors, including: new shipbuilding opportunities in marine transportation, ferries, Arctic OCS shipping and development, Oil and Gas exploration and production, and Bering Sea Fishing vessel replacement and an expanding marine vessel mainte- nance, repair, and reconÞ guration market. Vigor also hopes to expand employment there from 160 to 300 in the next two years. Congressman Don Young will be in Ketchikan on March 26, 2013 to dedicate the new ship production fa- cilities at the Ketchikan Shipyard. Adam Beck, President, Alaska Ship and Drydock, declared, ÒASD is strategically positioned to serve a wide variety of customers É SpeciÞ -cally, our new assembly hall provides an indoor, weather- controlled facility capable of housing over 85%of the vessel types and sizes that operate in our area.Ó Welding project in a Vigor Shipyard MN 57www.marinelink.com MN March2013 Layout 50-65.indd 57MN March2013 Layout 50-65.indd 573/5/2013 2:02:06 PM3/5/2013 2:02:06 PM