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Until last year, the role that Vigor Industrial plays in Portland鈥檚 economy was likely not on the radar of the average person.

Last year鈥檚 construction of the Vigorous, a 960-foot-long dry dock where ships can come for repairs changed that.

The interior of the dry dock is the equivalent of three football fields laid end-to-end. The capacity is spacious enough to fit the largest ship of World War II, the Japanese battleship Yamato, and is well beyond the capacity of today鈥檚 medium-sized cruise ships.

鈥淲e鈥檝e done this more than a few times,鈥� said Dave Whitcomb, president and CEO of Vigor Industrial.聽鈥淚n fact, the聽Vigorous is about the same size as the dry dock that was there before.聽 We鈥檝e moved that to another facility. This vessel slid right into the spot.鈥�

The new dry dock facilities were christened Oct, 29, 2014, and the first cargo ship slipped in a few days later.

Established 20 years ago, Vigor has since grown to be one of the major shipbuilding and repair companies in the Pacific Northwest with more than 2,300 employees, 95 percent of whom are from the Portland-Vancouver area.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 a significant effect on the local economy,鈥� Whitcomb said.

Vigorous聽joined several smaller floating dry docks owned and operated in Portland by Vigor Industrial.聽But the size of the Vigorous inspires awe even in shipbuilding and repair veterans like Whitcomb.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a fascination we all have with projects and machines this big,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 still have a kind of excitement sometimes when a project is over because it almost feels like playing.聽This is what we specialize in. This is what we do every day.聽Just another day at the office and I still get excited about working on big projects.

鈥淭he difference is that it all happens because of people. No matter how big the job, it gets done because we have the right people on the job. We booked over 90,000 hours putting the Vigorous聽in place, and those are just our employees.聽It doesn鈥檛 count subcontractors. We鈥檙e a big part of Portland.鈥�