Port Canaveral Cruise Terminal 3 Wharf Design and Construction

The Canaveral Port Authority is constructing the rebuild of Cruise Terminal 3 (CT3) Berth to accommodate the increasing size of ultra-large cruise vessels. The original CT3 was constructed in 1983 where the design vessel had a length overall (LOA) of 198 m (650 feet). The design vessel for the rebuild project has a LOA of 400 m (1,312 feet) which is the estimated length of the planned stretched Oasis Class. The original CT3 berth was an open pile wharf with a shallow bulkhead wall. The prestressed concrete deck was designed for only 250 PSF (1,221 kgs/m²), as mobile passenger gangways had yet to be developed. Consequently, for today’s cruise terminals the open pile wharf was functionally obsolete and would need to be transformed into a more robust wharf that could handle the larger vessels and the heavy wheel loads from mobile passenger gangways. This paper will focus on the the design vessel loading on the wharf from berthing, mooring, and passing ship effects; how the mobile passenger gangway geometry and its connection between the vessel and the terminal must be considered early in the design; operations unique to cruise vessels that must be accommodated on the wharf apron and how this influences the layout and the positioning of the mooring fixtures; the wharf design option that used an open pile wharf with an intermediate depth bulkhead wall, and why the deep combi-wall bulkhead with pipe pile A-frame tie-back system was selected; and geotechnical challenges that required innovations such as the use of light weight fill to reduce wall loads and the need to use articulated tie-back rods to accommodate long term settlement. And finally, this paper will describe some of the challenges faced during the construction to date of the berth that was performed on a site that required extensive marine and landside demolition activities, and was shared with the simultaneous construction of the terminal building and other upland facilities.