Dozens watch as Zidell Marine launches the new barge DBL54 into the Willamette Feb. 5 from their shipyards on Portland's South Waterfront.

The other day I got a hot news tip that on Friday Zidell Marine would be launching the newest barge built at their shipyards in Portland’s South Waterfront.

The window for the launch was between 11:30 and 12:30, so at 11:15 I headed over to a pre-scouted location across the Willamette to wait. Thankfully the morning clouds parted and it was a beautiful sunny day.

The barge, dubbed DBL 54, slid into the water stern-first at about 12:15.

The launch itself was slower than I had expected. The only other launch I’ve seen was a side-launch of a laker in Collingwood, Ont., when I was about 8. If my memory serves me correctly, that was much quicker and more dramatic.*

In Friday’s launch the barge—a much smaller vessel than the one I’d seen before—gracefully slid into the water over the course of about 20 seconds.

Zidell’s web page says they can build barges up to 90 feet wide and “as long as a football field.” I don’t have any numbers for DBL 54 but judging by its size relative to the launch site, I expect it is at the larger end of the spectrum.

According to this site, the vessel is a double-hulled oil tanker owned by K-Sea Transportation.

[Update: DBL 54 is 300 feet long, and can carry nearly 54,000 barrels of oil. Watch a video of the launch on YouTube.—ed.]

*I believe the launch I saw was the M/V Prairie Harvest. That vessel has undergone several name changes since, but is still sailing the Great Lakes and Atlantic. Read about that here. Here’s some video of a similar ship launch from that yard.