ALGOL

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North America's largest drydock floats first ship

It was a moment almost two years in the making. Portland shipbuilding and ship-repair company Vigor Industrial was finally able last week to try out its new $50 million baby ($40 million for construction, $10 million to get it here): A massive floating drydock called The Vigorous. On Monday, the 936-foot-long SS Algol — designed to ferry tanks and other military vehicles — floated into the 960-foot-long dock at the north end of Swan Island. Vigor workers will spend 25 days repairing the ship before it's offloaded to make space for the SS Algol's sister ship, the SS Capella. The second ship is sitting in the meantime in Vigor's Swan Island yard. Vigorous drydock gets set afloat and sent to new Swan Island home A $40 million floating drydock called Vigorous was set afloat Wednesday north of the St. Johns Bridge after being carried across the Pacific Ocean by the world's largest heavy-lift ship. The drydock is in three parts for now, but will eventually be assembled into a single unit at Swan Island for Vigor Industrial. Fully assembled, it will be 960-feet long, almost twice as long as Portland’s KOIN Tower is tall. The drydock, which Vigor Industrial claims is the largest in North America, arrived in Portland in August after being carried across the Pacific Ocean by the MV Blue marlin, one of the world's largest heavy-lift ships.