Pier Strengthening for Mobile Harbor Cranes

As part of Port Canaveral's development of a container feeder terminal, the port authority selected a terminal operator who elected to use mobile harbor cranes to load and unload containers. North Cargo Piers 1, 2, and 3 are the only berths in close proximity to the container yard. However, these cargo piers were designed and constructed in the early 1970's as medium duty general cargo wharves. In order to function as container piers, they would now have to support the proposed large mobile harbor cranes and container handling equipment. This paper will discuss the structural evaluation, the analytical approach used to model the crane axle loads and propping loads, and the hydrodemolition method selected to remove the existing topping. It will also describe the various challenges encountered during construction, which included the requirement that a portion of the berth be open to general cargo operations at all times, and the operator's purchase of a crane that had higher propping and axle loads than the design crane.