New York City Cruise Terminal Developments

Prior to the development of the recently constructed Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, the Passenger Ship Terminal (PST) located on the Hudson River in Manhattan, NY was New York City's only cruise terminal and consisted of four piers built between 1932 and 1935. With the advent of large post panamax cruise ships, modifications to the terminal were required to accommodate the increased passenger volumes as well as larger ships. To address these issues, the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) formulated a master plan which entailed upgrading the PST and redeveloping Pier 12 located in Brooklyn from an industrial facility into a second cruise terminal. The marine engineering works for both projects were similar and consisted of tasks to determine the condition of the existing marine facilities through above and below water inspections, evaluation of existing data, design of repairs and upgrade alternatives to meet the present and future needs of the facilities, and the production of detailed designs and contract documents. Both terminals had to be substantially upgraded to accommodate ships such as the Queen Mary 2 (QM2) which imposed significantly larger berthing loads than the facilities were originally designed to resist. At the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, design solutions entailed concrete encasement pile repairs and constructing five new breasting dolphins, one mooring dolphin and two onshore mooring structures. At the PST, design solutions entailed concrete encasement pile repairs and constructing two new piers with one located on each side of Pier 88 to resist the ship loads and to provide a greater deck area to enhance terminal functionality. To meet the tight schedule for both projects, the marine works had to be completed prior to the design of the terminal buildings and other terminal facilities. This sequencing led to significant design changes late in the design development and construction phases. Strong correspondence and communication between the marine engineers, architects and other consultants was critical to provide quick solutions and meet the project deadlines.