A keel-laying ceremony Friday afternoon at Vigor Industrial on Portland’s Swan Island marked the start of construction for the first of three new tugboats being built for Tidewater Barge Lines of Vancouver. The tugs will be the first newly built vessels for the company in nearly 30 years.
Marc Schwartz, Tidewater’s maintenance and engineering manager, displayed plans for the new tugboat and set a ceremonial weld in front of Tidewater and Vigor officials and construction workers during Friday’s ceremony.
