?This article was published in May 2010 issue of World Port Development. To receive a pdf of the article in its original format including charts and pictures please send an email to archive@worldportdevelopment.com
Port Construction projects pick up pace
The current economic climate has had a major influence on the decision of port and terminal operators to invest in infrastructure projects. Some of these projects have been postponed or indefinitely delayed but World Port Development found that the industry has turned a corner and is upbeat about the future. What recession? That was the general mood of the responses from companies to our request for information for our port construction and dredging article. Many respondents provided us with interesting information and we could have filled several pages in this issue of World Port Development. Some of these projects have been highlighted here and more will follow over the next couple of months. It shows that the industry is working hard to invest in new projects in anticipation of a recovery of the economies around the world.
Middle East
US-based PND Engineers Inc (PND) is providing planning, design, and constructionproject management for new Iraqi naval pier facilities, a seawall, and supporting infrastructure at Umm Qasr Naval Base in Iraq. PND teamed with CCI Alaska Inc and West Construction (BWCC) for this USD44 million design-build project for the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Umm Qasr is located at the southern tip of Iraq on an estuary leading to the Persian Gulf. The project is of great strategic and economic importance to the government of Iraq. The new state-of-the-art pier facilities will provide berthing for Iraqi Navy patrol vessels charged with protecting Iraq’s oil platforms and securing critical port infrastructure. Construction of the facilities has also brought much-needed jobs and business to the local area. The government of Iraq is providing funding and taking the lead on the project, with the USACE providing support with contract and construction management. The new naval facilities consist of two piers: Pier 1 utilises the open cell sheet pile system; Pier 2 is a floating dock with a gangway, located just south of Pier 1. The new piers will provide operational and maintenance support for the patrol ships that were recently purchased by the government of Iraq. PND’s services included design of a fender system to protect the piers from mooring and berthing loads. The pier facilities were designed to eliminate the need for both initial and maintenance dredging. PND also coordinated the utility design for the new piers, which will provide water, electrical, and fuel services to the vessels. Pier 2 was completed in November 2009, and the dock is currently in use by the Iraqi Navy while the adjacent Pier 1 is under construction.
North America
PND Engineers Inc (PND) is the lead wharf designer for the Port of Anchorage Expansion Project, in which the existing platform docks are being replaced in five major phases with 8,000 feet of open cell sheet pile bulkhead. The bulkhead will have five follow-up construction projects that provide for dock cap, a large utilidor, fendering, bollards, and a crane support system. The Port of Anchorage is located in the upper reaches of Cook Inlet where a 40-foot tide range, the second-largest in the world, creates 3-4 tidal knot currents. The area also has a high rate of seismic activity. PND designed the cell sheet pile bulkhead to withstand substantial seismic events, including a subduction zone with energy input larger than the 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake, which was magnitude 9.2, the second-largest earthquake ever recorded. PND led a rigorous geotechnical analysis program, supported by Geo Engineers, Inc. (GEI), providing a significant number of sensitivity analyses, using both classic and numerical methods to confirm results with varying input of soils, loading, phreatic and tidal water levels. The seismic loading provides for: an operating level earthquake (OLE) with a 75-year return, a contingency level earthquake (CLE) with a 500-year return, and a maximum considered earthquake (MCE) with a 2,500-year return. Two MCE functional areas are being provided at the port to maintain fueling and cargo operations soon after any large catastrophic event should occur. The port of Anchorage expansion project is being led by Integrated Concepts & Research Corp (ICRC). The expected project construction costs are USD700 million, of which PND is providing design for about USD500 million. The project will require over 10 million cubic yards of gravel and over 46,000 tonnes of sheet pile. The expansion addresses the primary development of additional dock face and uplands at the port, significantly increasing available mooring and handling capability to meet the growing demand on this central facility. The port of Anchorage is critical to Alaska, receiving 90% of the tonnage into the state, and internationally providing US military access to the Pacific for the 11th Air Force and Stryker Brigade. The expansion will add 135 acres of additional property, approximately doubling the size of the Port. PND also completed a feasibility and logistical study for a major port infrastructure development to support the Hope Bay Gold Mine project located in the Canadian Arctic. The Hope Bay gold deposits contain the largest reserves in North America. The project location, in northwestern Nunavut, is an extremely remote location with only a 6-week ice-free window to receive supplies and construction materials. As a result, shipments must be planned in advanced and transported to the site each year in coordinated sea lifts. PND provided logistical studies for fuel and mine modules to determine the amount of port infrastructure required. Currently, PND is executing the first phase of the development plan by designing major upgrades to an existing rock jetty. The existing jetty will be reinforced with PND’s patented open cell dock technology, which is particularly well-suited for the rigors of the Arctic. The first phase also includes multiple fixed moorage arrangements installed along the perimeter of the bay into bedrock on shore to accommodate the various deck barges, floating camps, supply ships, and fuel tankers that will be visiting the site. The second phase of the project will include the installation of a larger deep-water module dock and fuel tanker unloading dock. The site conditions are difficult and standard pile supported dock and closed-cell sheet pile structures have proven to be ineffective in the poor soil and frozen conditions. PND is designing the facilities to withstand heavy seasonal sea ice, with a planned design life of 20 years. Hope Bay is on the Arctic Ocean, with temperatures dropping to -30 degrees Celsius in January.
Poland
A consortium of Denmark-based Per Aarsleff, Dutch dredging contractor Boskalis International, Doraco (Poland) and Hochtief Construction (German) have been awarded a contract from the Maritime Office of Poland in Stettin for the construction of a harbour in connection with a new LNG gas terminal in Swinoujscie, Poland. The total contract value is approximately Euro170 million with Boskalis’ share amounting to approximately Euro 75 million. To allow the port to accommodate large vessels, Boskalis will create a turning basin and deepen the access channel. A total of more than 8 million cubic meters of sand will be dredged. Furthermore, Boskalis will construct a 3.3km breakwater to protect the port. The project will be executed with a combination of small to large sized trailer suction hopper dredgers, floating cranes and dry earth moving equipment. Per Aarsleff will get involved in the construction of a jetty and other port structures. Work is set to commence mid 2010 and is due to be completed by the end of 2012.
Vietnam
Dutch engineering consultancy DHV is going to improve the navigability on 250km of the Mekong River in Vietnam. Apart from the widening an
d deepening of the river, DHV is also responsible for the construction and restoration of 18 bridges and the construction of a new lock. The project is to be financed by the World Bank. The Mekong delta in Vietnam is one of the five international regions with which the Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management wants to build up an intensive relationship. The project costs amount to about Euro 100 million. The Mekong, which is almost 5,000km in length, is an important river in Southeast Asia. Its sources lie in China, from where it flows through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, where its delta discharges its waters into the South China Sea. Currently, many of the bridges spanning the river are too low, and the river is not fit for inland water transportation. “The project represents a strong boost for the economy. It will result in an important traffic artery on which large ships will be able to navigate and commerce will flourish. Our experience in the Netherlands teaches us that inland water transportation also offers a sustainable alternative to road transportation,” said Ben Reeskamp, Director of Ports and Waterways at DHV. When the project is completed, the river will be able to accommodate convoys of inland ships of up to 600 tonnes. DHV is collaborating on the project with two local subcontractors. One of these will concentrate on the bridges – two of which are a few hundred meters long. The other subcontractor will focus on the river’s dredging. “Our office in Vietnam provides an important support in the overall coordination of this mega-project”, Reeskamp added. The project will be completed early 2014.
Box story
Partrac distributes Sediview
Glasgow-based marine environmental consultancy Partrac Ltd recently announced a worldwide agency agreement for Sediview software. Sediview software v3 is a unique and powerful processing tool to generate sediment concentration estimates from Teledyne RDI 1200 and 600kHz Broadband ADCP instruments. It also incorporates a wide range of features to analyse and graphically output collected data, including current speed and direction, discharge, and processed sediment concentration. The integration into a single unit of detailed sediment and current data permits the measurement and analysis of dynamic and large-scale sediment distribution and transport processes with a high degree of confidence. Partrac have taken over the sales, technical support, training & technical development role for Sediview under the agreement with DRL Software, the UK-based company who developed and introduced the software commercially in 1979. Partrac will also undertake Sediview surveys (e.g. mapping dredge plumes) for clients with sediment management problems. “The derivation of sediment concentration from backscatter readings obtained with ADCP has been of considerable interest to oceanographers and coastal geologists for many years. When DRL Software introduced the Sediview product into the market a genuine advance was made on a practical level. Sediview now has an enviable reputation and a demonstrable track record, and there are over 100 Sediview users worldwide including the US Army Corps of Engineers, the Port of London Authority, and United States Geological Survey. We will be further developing the software with DRL Software over the next year and hope to bring an exciting range of additional features and compatibility with a range of instruments,” said Kevin Black, Technical Director at Partrac. “We’re delighted to have entered into an agreement with Partrac to increase the profile of our software and make it more readily accessible. Sediview has already proved to be a valuable tool to users in a wide variety of fields and we are confident that it will be a benefit to many more, both in its traditional form and through synergistic development with Partrac,” said Nick Bray, DRL Software Director. SeReAnt orders Damen dredger Damen, the Netherlands has received an order from Antwerp-based SeReAnt [Belgium] to design and construct a special cutter suction dredger for the Amoras project. The dredger will be a full customer special to fit exactly the intricate dredging and sludge treatment process. Design is now well underway, with the dredger due for delivery in September 2010 – exactly in time to fit in to the tight Amoras time schedule. The cutter suction dredger is fully adapted to feed the continuous process resulting in 500.000 tonnes of treated dry material every year. The dredger is fully electrically driven with required power of 1.800 kVa, 15.75 kV. It is also fitted out with a swing ladder, cleaning the underwater depot at minus 18m dredging depth and a maximum swing width of 24m. As the contamination of some silt is such that it cannot be deposited in the depot, a barge unloader is a vital element of the dredger – pumping the heavily contaminated material directly to shore by the inboard dredge pump.