Ports 2022: Port Planning and Development

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) relies on local communities to set and enforce regulations to preserve the floodplain and mitigate flood hazards. Without a clear framework or model ordinance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the drafting and enforcement of these protections are left to local city councils, leading to a confusing variety of local regulations selectively adopted from FEMA, the International Building Code, and American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) standards. These inconsistencies create uncertainty that hampers positive development and discourages owners from performing critical maintenance on marine infrastructure. This paper compares local regulations that govern development in floodways and floodplains of several United States port cities and analyzes their impact on a several model projects. This research identifies key differences among the city regulations and reveals shortcomings where regulations were not developed with water dependent infrastructure in mind. ASCE can help push for these distinctions and establish a unified national code that acknowledges the differences between buildings and in-water structures to better serve waterfront property owners and the general public.

Probabilistic analysis techniques are well suited for the task of evaluating the effects of climate change and particularly for its effects on flood hazards, such as storm surge and precipitation. Probabilistic methods provide a context for quantifying and evaluating uncertainty in flood risk, as well as considering the way flood risk will evolve with time. This paper presents an overview of several relevant ideas for probabilistic analysis of sea level rise and applies them to a case study at Dundalk Marine Terminal in Baltimore, Maryland. The analysis presented represents part of the input to a benefit-cost analysis that was used to establish the optimum elevation for a storm surge barrier (sea curb) around the perimeter of the terminal. The case study illustrates the type of results that can be obtained through this type of analysis and the perspective that they can provide to a project.

After being severely impacted by Hurricane Michael in October 2018, Tyndall Air Force Base (AFB) is rebuilding as an installation of the future. This paper demonstrates the importance of a resilience strategy to manage coastal flooding. It also presents the development of four pilot projects to explore the viability of nature-based coastal resilience solutions at Tyndall AFB to reduce risks. Those projects include reinforcing the second line of defense, alternative techniques to promote dune growth by sand trapping on barrier islands, strategic placement of sediment to enhance coastal resilience, and evaluation of back bay nature-based options for increasing coastal resilience. The paper also describes the regional collaboration and stakeholder engagement process and partnerships to align and support the nature-based elements of the coastal resilience strategy.

The Port of Port Angeles’ (Port) Terminal 3 Maintenance Dredging Project was an innovative project with beneficial reuse of dredged sediments at an adjacent upland cleanup site. The project included initial sediment characterizations to determine the feasibility of in-water disposal; however, after the material was determined to be unacceptable for in-water disposal, upland material reuse was determined to be the most feasible. The project team coordinated with local, state, and federal agencies to secure the necessary permits and approvals for reuse of the low-level contaminated dredge material at the K Ply site. The project included maintenance dredging of over 8,410 cubic meters [m³; 11,000 cubic yards (CY)] of sediment, with the reuse of approximately 6,500 m³ (8,500 CY) and off-site disposal of approximately 1,910 m³ (2,500 CY) at a Subtitle D landfill. The beneficial reuse resulted in a substantial economic benefit to the Port, a reduction in the generation of carbon emissions, and minimization of impacts to the local community of Port Angeles via reduced truck traffic.

A bulkhead barrier wall system was constructed in a mixed use, densely populated urban environment along the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, New York. This paper presents the design considerations, stakeholder constraints, methodology, and construction lessons learned. The bulkhead barrier, consisting of an anchored wall of steel sheet piling, was designed to meet the remedial objectives of minimizing potential source migration into the Gowanus Canal, provide support of the upland sensitive receptors and buildings, while taking into consideration the EPA remedy for the Gowanus Canal, which includes dredging of up to 20 ft of canal soft sediments and construction of an eight-million-gallon CSO retention tank to be constructed adjacent to the barrier wall system. Key design elements of the barrier wall system were considered as they relate to environmental/geo-structural conditions, constructability, influence of adjacent sensitive structures and businesses, regulatory permitting constraints, and performance.

The city of Los Angeles (City) Harbor Department has reached and exceeded its goal of installing 10 megawatts (MW) of photovoltaic (PV) solar power within the Port of Los Angeles (Port). The journey began in earnest in December 2007 and substantially ended in December 2020. The Harbor Department, its tenants, a solar power developer selected via request for proposal (RFP), and the city’s utility all contributed to reach the goal by constructing two dozen PV solar power systems (PV systems) within the Port. Two prior papers describe the Harbor Department’s effort up to the RFP. This paper will briefly recap that effort. However, the focus of this paper will be to describe the effort undertaken by the Harbor Department and its solar power developer to meet the goals of the RFP, which led to the construction of five rooftop PV systems and five canopy PV systems to reach almost 12 MW of PV solar power port-wide. This paper will attempt to summarize three years of construction. Topics for discussion include the transfer of ownership of these 10 PV systems from one solar power developer to another before construction began, permitting and approvals, baseline contamination studies, substructure investigation, array installation, foundation installation for canopy PV systems, interconnection to the city’s utility, commissioning, and commercial operation. Lastly, key lessons learned will be shared. The goal of this paper is, together with the previous two papers on this subject, to pass on to the reader some of the hard earned knowledge gained by the Harbor Department as it worked to accomplish its goal of 10 MW of PV solar power so that they too may confidently attempt the journey.

As part of the improvement and modernization of the Paul W. Conley Container Terminal (Conley Terminal) in South Boston, the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) constructed a new berth and expanded Conley yard onto the adjacent former coastal oil facility, a significantly oil contaminated site. Massport implemented a soil reclamation and reuse program that integrated sustainably into the new berth and terminal expansion that minimized impacts to the community and the environment. No urban fill, oily soil, or sediment was transported off-site for disposal in landfills. It was instead treated, rendered inert, or processed, and retained on-site. The program eliminated approximately 5,200 truck trips for off-site disposal and 3,500 truck trips for import of subbase material through adjacent residential neighborhoods. Eliminating these truck trips averted the use of an estimated 34,750 gallons of truck fuel, which translated to an estimated elimination of 2.64 short tons of NOx emissions and an estimated elimination of 390.94 short tons of CO₂ emissions.

Deep-draft vessel waves are found to play a significant role in shoreline erosion due to their larger height and longer period. Currently there are many numerical models that predict shoreline changes caused by natural processes such as tidal currents and waves. However, a modeling system that efficiently simulates both vessel-induced hydrodynamics and morphological changes is not typical. A modeling system was therefore developed by coupling two highly validated models used for predicting vessel hydrodynamics and morphological processes. The modeling system also utilizes historical ship tracking data to automatically process relevant vessel events over a given period to be used for predicting long-term shoreline impacts. The paper discusses the development and advantages of the modeling system using applications involving shoreline sections in bays where deep-draft vessels are frequent. The paper presents results of hydrodynamics as well as sediment erosion, transport, and deposition associated with vessel events.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) enacted the Control Measure for Ocean-Going Vessels at Berth regulation in August 2020 to reduce the emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases from ocean-going vessels while berthed at regulated California ports. This updated regulation requires 100% of container, cruise, and refrigerated cargo fleet visits to connect to shore power or provide a CARB-approved emission control strategy by January 1, 2023. However, the existing fixed shore power outlet (SPO) vaults at the wharf cannot accommodate all vessel sizes and berthing positions at the terminal. Therefore, the Port of Oakland’s engineering and environmental team, in collaboration with an industry partner, developed an innovative mobile shore power solution that can provide increased coverage, while complying with terminal safety requirements. This paper describes the challenges and lessons learned to design one of the world’s first fixed track mobile shore power outlet systems.

Seaports are particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels and storms due to their proximity to the coastline, expansion on artificial fill, and historical development under relatively stable sea level conditions. They are also complex facilities with characteristics that pose challenges to their adaptation. Ports contain numerous asset types with varying degrees of vulnerability, depend on regional transportation networks, and need to adapt to changing environmental conditions while maintaining operational functionality for current sea level and post-storm conditions. Strong policy, planning, and/or design guidance is necessary in the ports industry to adequately integrate sea level rise (SLR) considerations into the design of ports and their infrastructure. This paper describes the challenges of addressing SLR for ports through the lens of PortMiami, discusses a framework for evaluating potential SLR impacts on port assets and operations, provides an adaptation strategy toolbox to incorporate SLR preparedness into capital project planning and design, and presents an example incorporating future sea level conditions into the design of a major bulkhead replacement project at PortMiami.

The World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure Working Group on Beneficial Use is developing a report that will provide technical information and guidance regarding the state of the practice for sediment as a beneficial resource, drawing from existing approaches and best practices. The report considers and evaluates the following elements: concepts of beneficial sediment use and existing scientific knowledge related to different uses; sediment contamination and how contamination can constrain sediment reuse alternatives; and use of cost-benefit and ecosystem services frameworks as tools to better understand how the value of different reuse options can be quantified, and to compare different beneficial use and disposal alternatives. Aspects of the report we present include opportunities for sediment beneficial use and how to transition barriers to catalysts. Several case studies are presented to illustrate recent successes and challenges associated with the beneficial use of dredged material.

As vessels increase in size, ports require enhancements and modifications to existing facilities. A primary factor in determining facility limitations is the posted dredge depth. For this reason, the Port of Virginia performed a dredge deepening study at Portsmouth Marine Terminal. This terminal contains a wharf, 4,500 ft long × 70 ft wide, constructed in three phases with multiple unique pile-supported cross-sections. Existing dredge depths measure between 40 and 42 ft below MLW; however, the desired dredge depth is 46 ft below MLW. Increasing the dredge depth may be a beneficial upgrade but requires many factors to be considered. The primary impacts included the effect on the point of fixity and effective length of the foundation piles, decreased geotechnical pile capacity, and potential impacts to the bulkhead wall along the landside edge of the wharf. These conditions were evaluated for the various cross-sections of the wharf.

This paper describes a unique approach to integrate environmental cleanup and redevelopment that the Port of Everett (Port) pursued to expedite the revitalization of a waterfront brownfield site into productive maritime industrial use within three years of acquiring the property. The former Kimberly-Clark pulp and paper mill was closed in 2012, after which Kimberly-Clark entered into an agreed order with the Washington State Department of Ecology to clean up the site. The Port purchased the site in 2019 to redevelop it as a new 35-acre (14.2 hectare) maritime cargo handling yard to support their adjacent marine terminals, with the terminal pavement doubling as a site wide environmental cap under an amended agreed order. This integrated redevelopment and cleanup accelerated the permitting/regulatory approvals, as major portions of the redevelopment were considered elements of the state-regulated cleanup and therefore did not require formal permit approval by state and local jurisdictions.

In the face of climate change, adaptation to sea-level rise, global warming, increasing CO₂ levels, changes in precipitation, and extreme weather events is a growing need. However, as the complex science of resilience continues to progress, systems need to be resilient to a broader range of interconnected and interdependent threats and hazards. Leveraging the link between resilience and sustainability can help define and manage more holistically a wide array of impacts. This paper describes a whole system approach to resilience and how this approach was used by the Port of San Francisco that challenges practitioners to move beyond discipline silos to foster more comprehensive solutions. It also describes the finding of their multi-hazard risk assessment (MHRA) to assess all flood and seismic hazards and consequences, and the development of an adaptation plan for a resilient waterfront.

As landowners and lessors, ports are in a unique position to select and dedicate sites for wetland and fish and wildlife habitat mitigation. To avoid project delays associated with project-by-project mitigation, more ports are choosing to conduct advance mitigation or construct mitigation banks to proactively address mitigation needs for future development projects. Mitigation planning in advance of habitat impacts requires outreach and negotiation with regulatory agencies to agree on the number and type of credits generated from ecological improvements and the type of development actions eligible under the program. Some ports have elected to develop umbrella mitigation banks that provide Clean Water Act (CWA) mitigation and Endangered Species Act (ESA) Section 7 habitat conservation credits across a range of habitat types for sale, while other ports are planning advance mitigation programs to reserve credits for their own use. These options can provide significantly reduced costs for mitigation and have the potential to generate revenue. This paper will review factors for planning and implementing advance mitigation and mitigation banking and will provide recent examples of port-led programs.

Marine projects with potential to harass, or injure, marine mammals typically seek authorization from regulatory agencies to allow for incidental take. Monitoring by trained scientists is usually a requirement of these authorizations. For larger projects, this monitoring can generate significant volumes of data to meet regulatory requirements. If these data are not collected or organized well, a project may experience unnecessary delays, shutdowns, or further consultation with the agencies. The expansion of Dry Dock 1 at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, is a multi-year marine construction project requiring compliance monitoring for potential impacts to marine mammals under several authorizations from NOAA Fisheries. Due to the expectation of large volume of compliance data and scrutiny by the agencies, we developed a secure digital interface for standardized data collection and management to maintain permit compliance. Use of our system improved the time required to enter and review data, run queries for status updates, and prepare summary reports to remain in compliance with project permits and authorizations.

The former Pacific Wood Treating’s (PWT’s) wood-treating operations heavily impacted the Lake River Industrial Site (LRIS) that is owned by the Port of Ridgefield (the Port) and is located along the lower Columbia River in the city of Ridgefield, Washington. Site impacts included extensive dense nonaqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) contamination in soil and groundwater as well as ubiquitous metals, tetrachloroethene, pentachlorophenol (PCP), and dioxin contamination in soil. Dioxin contamination extended off of the site conveyed by stormwater into surface waterbodies and wetlands and into an adjacent residential neighborhood by truck tracking and aerial deposition. By partnering with the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology), the Port was able to make use of state grant funding, avoid the National Priorities List, and begin their vision of turning the site into a community asset. The Port performed a comprehensive investigation and remediation of the site over two decades to both address risk to human health and the environment and to return the Port’s property to productive use. The Port implemented remediation primarily as a sequence of strategic emergency and interim actions that were intended to function together as a final remedy. Remediation technologies employed on Port-owned property included steam-enhanced remediation of DNAPL in deep groundwater, excavation and off-site disposal of soil and shallow DNAPL impacts, installation of a clean soil cap across the site, and replacement of the aged storm sewer network. Dioxin-contaminated sediment in Lake River, a tidal backwater of the Columbia River, was removed using the precision-dredging method. Dioxin contamination in Carty Lake, a priority wetland habitat in the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge (RNWR), was removed by excavation “in the dry”; habitat within the lake was successfully restored and enhanced. The Port also led remediation of 29 residential properties and additional public rights-of-way with shallow dioxin contamination in soil. Accessible contaminated soil was excavated and disposed of off site; landscaping elements were carefully restored with minimal disruption to homeowners. This case study will follow the project, that included active remediation of nearly all environmental media, to understand how this small port district leveraged a variety of creative funding opportunities and advanced remedial technologies to lead and complete a major site cleanup. Work at the LRIS is now complete, and off-site work is nearly complete. The project opened Ridgefield’s only waterfront, closed by industry for over 100 years, to thriving public use—including dedicating a large swath of the waterfront as a public greenway. In cooperation with the Port, the RNWR has since made this greenway the locus of a new trail network across the refuge. The Port’s property is now ready for redevelopment as the focal point of a community that has consistently ranked as the fastest growing in Washington State.

Coastal development and infrastructure projects often require seagrass mitigation and impact assessments. Seagrass growth depends on many factors, including sunlight penetration into the water column, water chemistry, hydrodynamic forcing, and other factors which can make assessing impacts to existing seagrass beds or designing a successful mitigation project difficult.  This paper proposes a methodology for implementing a machine learning model to efficiently predict potential seagrass growth areas in inland Texas Bays. The machine learning algorithms can be used to quickly assess mitigation site viability and project performance, or to assess impacts to existing seagrass beds. Two separate approaches were taken—developing large scale and site-specific machine learning models.  The large-scale machine learning model can be used during mitigation site assessment to select areas with high potential for seagrass growth. This can be used to select a site for a mitigation project where seagrass growth is likely if a proper mitigation project is designed and implemented. The small-scale tool can then be used to evaluate the different mitigation project alternatives at the selected site to optimize project design and maximize the likelihood of seagrass growth. The final machine learning algorithms found between 73% and 95% spatial accuracy in predicting the growth of seagrass. In combination the large scale and small-scale models provide a database for rapid assessment of seagrass growth.

Port facilities are facing increased challenges due to sea level rise and surge-based inundation; this is particularly problematic for roll-on/roll-off (RO/RO) facilities handling automobiles. Retrofitting an operational port terminal to combat climate-related storm surge presents unique circumstances that must be considered when employing resiliency features. Operational considerations include selection of barrier position and integrating flood barrier systems into existing facilities whereby day-to-day operations remain unimpeded. Methods for the effective and timely deployment of barrier closures must be devised. Design considerations include coastal evaluations, wave load development, and evaluation of structure designs that resist imposed loads. At the Maryland Port Administration’s (MPA) Dundalk Marine Terminal (DMT) several alternatives were considered for both fixed and deployable barriers, and an integrated design approach was used to ensure effective surge protection measures are compatible with operational needs of the facility.

Natural hazard planning (e.g., sea level rise, storm surge, etc.) is an essential element of coastal military installation mission assurance, and the need for long-term adaptation and infrastructure resiliency solutions is necessitating new tactics, techniques, and procedures to accelerate the pace and quality of stakeholder technical communications, collaboration, and decision informing. This paper outlines recent efforts to meet these challenges by developing a repeatable methodology for integrating disparate remote sensing and site characterization in a geo-enabled 3D environment to accurately visualize waterfront infrastructure vulnerabilities and develop potential adaptation strategies. Exemplar use cases will be presented to demonstrate how this approach is currently being evaluated by the Department of the Navy to characterize impacts, identify and portfolio of adaptation, and facilitate multi-disciplinary collaboration to improve installation resilience and sustain mission.

In prior guidance, the World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure’s (PIANC) Environmental Commission (EnviCom) developed procedures addressing various aspects of environmental risk assessment of dredging and dredged material disposal related to waterborne transport infrastructure. While providing a scientific basis for making decisions based on environmental risk assessment data, these reports did not specifically address methodologies for managing environmental risks. Recognizing this gap, an effort was undertaken through PIANC Workgroup 175 to develop a practical guide derived from existing methods and approaches to inform and assist decision makers managing environmental risk associated with waterborne transport infrastructure projects. Published in October 2019, the EnviCom WG 175 report A Practical Guide to Environmental Risk Management for Navigation Infrastructure Projects provides technical guidance to decision makers regarding the risk management process. The target audience for this guidance includes engineers, scientists, water resource managers, and other stakeholders and decision makers tasked with evaluating and managing environmental impacts of navigation and navigation-related infrastructure.

The Alabama State Port Authority (ASPA) currently has high annual dredge maintenance costs due to limited dredge management options. The ASPA 2018 master plan identified that an improved dredged material management program could result in millions of dollars of annual savings. The Upper Mobile Bay Beneficial Use Wetland Creation Site project represents a positive paradigm shift in ASPA’s dredge material management approach that results in environmental stewardship and economic benefits for the port. ASPA was directly impacted economically by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. Resulting civil penalties are funding the Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act (RESTORE Act), which established the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council (Council) to implement a comprehensive plan for economic and environmental recovery. Wetland creation through the beneficial use of dredged sediments simultaneously restores ecosystems while bolstering the Gulf Coast’s economy.

This paper discusses the case study goals, approach, and outcomes of the study commissioned by Port Houston in support of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) emission reduction efforts in the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria region. The five opportunities evaluated in this study included (1) shift cargo from road to rail, (2) shift cargo from road to no emission electric shuttle, (3) shift cargo from road to water, (4) shift cargo to low/no emission road trucks, and (5) use of cleaner cargo handling equipment. For these opportunities, several scenarios were identified and examined for a relative comparison to identify and propose the most promising scenarios for Port Houston to consider in future strategic planning and implementation. The paper concludes with providing a relative ranking of all evaluated scenarios and opportunities.

The Port of Los Angeles continues to develop and adapt capital improvement projects to remain resilient to sea level rise. As global sea levels continue to rise, shoreline assets become more vulnerable to increase in the frequency and magnitude of coastal flood events. Sea level rise is a significant risk that can have a long-term impact on business operations as well as international cargo; therefore, the port is taking a proactive approach to address the risk when investing in new infrastructure to avoid costly future improvements. This paper provides project examples and methodology taken to implement adaptation strategies to maintain resilience at the nation’s leading seaport. Resiliency strategies include updating governmental policies, implementing initiatives including regional and global collaboration, monitoring, and infrastructure development. The basis for the resiliency implementation is the Port of Los Angeles Sea Level Rise Adaptation Study, which evaluated port assets including cargo wharves and miscellaneous operations, critical facilities, transportation (rail/roads), community assets, and natural habitats. The Port of Los Angeles study included the development of sea level rise maps showing exposure for years 2030, 2050, and 2100, a vulnerability assessment, and development of adaptation strategies.

Vigor Shipyards, Inc., in Seattle is implementing a habitat project to settle natural resource damage liabilities associated with historical releases of contamination discharged over prior decades to the industrial Duwamish Waterway. Vigor assumed liability after the purchase of the shipyard and entered into a consent decree with federal agencies and tribes to demolish shipyard infrastructure and convert approximately 1/10 of the active facility to new aquatic habitat for juvenile salmonids. The new subtidal, intertidal, and riparian habitat will improve existing degraded habitat in this industrially zoned but ecologically important area, and Vigor will maintain the habitat area in perpetuity, as part of the working shipyard. Project construction includes dredging, embankment construction for the habitat, stormwater improvements, demolition, pier reconfiguration, and earthwork and planting. The shipyard operations will continue throughout the project; therefore, design and construction practices have been implemented that improve shipyard infrastructure and minimize impacts to shipyard operations.

Built in the 1930s to improve shipping transportation, the Seattle seawall had deteriorated and needed reconstruction in many places. The city of Seattle Department of Transportation’s (SDOT) Elliott Bay Seawall Project (EBSP) replaced the south half of the seawall adjacent to State Route 99. This required extensive ground improvement to achieve seismic performance requirements and maintain current functions (active piers, utilities, adjacent roadway). The north seawall end is far from SR-99, but still required seismic upgrades to achieve city seismic performance requirements and protect Olympic Sculpture Park (OSP) and the railroad near the seawall. A rock buttress was used at OSP to replace the earth retaining function of the deteriorated seawall, since there are no active piers. This paper provides helpful lessons learned for waterfront planning and design related to historic seawall condition challenges, seismic requirements, and habitat improvements.

One of the largest container terminals in the region—Terminal 5 in Seattle, Washington—is being redeveloped and modernized for ultra-large container vessels now typical in the shipping industry. As part of the redevelopment, SSA Terminals (SSAT) is proactively installing terminal-wide stormwater treatment in advance of fully operating on the site and ahead of any regulatory drivers. The project involved numerous risks: for example, limited influent stormwater data were available for treatment system evaluation and selection, existing stormwater infrastructure discharged via 11 outfalls, and other portions of the redevelopment were still in design or construction. To mitigate risks and select a treatment system that met project goals, the team leveraged data and design insights from another large container terminal stormwater treatment project of similar size and scale. The stormwater treatment project is currently under construction and anticipated to be complete early in 2023.

The Edmonds Waterfront Redevelopment Project was completed in November 2020 for the city of Edmonds in Washington State. The project is located on the Puget Sound in downtown Edmonds. The project site is part of the Edmonds Marine Walkway, connecting an underwater dive park, state ferry terminal, public fishing pier, and port marina along the city of Edmonds shoreline. The site itself is public property but is under long-term lease to a community center association, requiring a public/private partnership to move forward. The Edmonds Waterfront Redevelopment Project shows how a challenging site along the urban public waterfront can be successfully redeveloped while addressing potential impacts from sea level rise and climate change and accommodating sustainability and environmental elements. It also demonstrates multiple methods for improving the site’s impact on the natural environment, including water quality, habitat, and wildlife improvements. Finally, the project enhances structural resiliency and improves the overall quality of life for the community.

Washington State Ferries (WSF), a division of the Washington State Department of Transportation, is in the process of developing appropriate guidance on incorporating effects due to sea-level rise (SLR) for application to terminal design to support operations and extreme loading conditions. To aid in developing SLR guidance, Mott MacDonald (MM) partnered with PND and WSF to conduct a SLR vulnerability assessment. The assessment took a holistic approach by (1) applying the best available science on SLR projections, (2) conducting an industry review of guidance on applying SLR projections, and (3) developing a SLR vulnerability (SLRV) model tool to assess the vulnerability of WSF’s terminals to operations downtime and extreme loading conditions due to SLR on specific assets. Furthermore, the SLRV model tool was tested at WSF’s Fauntleroy Terminal to support planning of a new terminal. This investigation has provided context as to how SLR could be included in both WSF’s terminal design manual and in asset planning and management.

The Whatcom Waterway Project Site (Site) is located in the city of Bellingham (City) waterfront district in Whatcom County, Washington, and is managed by the Port of Bellingham (Port). The Site is an active waterway used for commercial and recreational operations, including transfer of bulk materials, boatyard operations such as maintenance and repair, and vessel moorage. Historical industrial activities performed adjacent to the Site have resulted in sediment contamination within and surrounding the waterway, including mercury, phenolic compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compounds, and dioxins and furans. Site remediation activities are being implemented in compliance with the requirements of the Washington State Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA) and Sediment Management Standards (SMS) regulations. The Port is in process of developing plans for future redevelopment of the waterway and surrounding upland areas, including residential and commercial development, industrial development supporting future marine trade use, and public access points to the waterway.

Liftech conceived a new crane concept, the Balance Crane (BC), for unloading containers from large vessels and developed the design in collaboration with crane manufacturer ZPMC, Shanghai, China. The BC has reduced wheel loads and tie-down loads compared to a standard ship-to-shore (STS) container crane but functions similarly. The boom is continuous from the landside legs to the boom tip. The landside girder is connected to the boom with a parallel linkage. To clear the vessel bridge, the boom and upper works rotate as a unit about waterside. The machinery house and shortened trolley girder landside of the landside leg remain horizontal while translating in a downward arc. The end results are a stowed crane with a lower center of gravity and reduced overturning moment due to stowed wind loads. In the operating position, there will be reduced trolley rail hinge maintenance due to fewer trolley cycles crossing the hinge relocated to the landside. The paper discusses selected BC design features and presents analyses and study results.

The purpose of the eccentricity coefficient in berthing energy calculations is to estimate the portion of the ship’s kinetic energy that fenders must absorb in side-berthing scenarios where angular motion of the ship results from the initial fender contact. Analytical derivations of the eccentricity coefficient were initially introduced to the industry in the 1950s and 1960s. Several analytical solutions were proposed at the time, derived by adopting sets of varying assumptions. More notably, solutions formulated by Vasco Costa and Saurin gained popularity and were eventually introduced into marine design guidelines where they remain relatively unchanged to this day. These guidelines also introduced the notion that berthing velocities of ships approaching under tug-assist should be taken as normal to the berth face, and as such, guidance provided to practitioners on velocity selection for side-berthing scenarios apply only to this approach condition. Standard methods for fender performance rating were also developed based on this assumption, with the energy absorption capacity measurements obtained by compressing the fenders in a direction normal to their base. Authors like Vasco Costa did not necessarily adhere to this simplified approach in their derivation and proposed application of the eccentricity coefficient. Consequently, when ship berthing schematics based on Vasco Costa’s work were introduced in the design guidelines, they portrayed a general solution to side-berthing in which the velocity vector contained a notable longitudinal component. These schematics were seldom updated to reflect the simplified normal direction of the berthing velocity assumed in the guidelines. Since the velocity and berthing approach angles depicted in these general solutions are often used as direct input in the eccentricity coefficient formulae, finding diverse interpretations in fender selection calculations is a common occurrence in cases where practitioners believe special consideration of potential longitudinal velocity may exist because of water currents or due to particular berthing practices. It is also common to find poor and contradictory statements in the definition of these and other input variables in codes and standards, leading to further confusion and misuse of these equations, even when applied to simpler berthing scenarios. A re-derivation of the commonly used eccentricity coefficient solutions provides clarity around the basic assumptions, term definitions, and appropriate application in marine guidelines such as PIANC, MOTEMS, and BS 6349, in a manner that is consistent with the velocity vector assumptions and standard fender performance rating procedures. This paper provides recommendations for existing guidelines that include the adoption of new ship berthing schematics that depict clearly the normal-velocity condition assumed by the standards; clarification that, with very few exceptions, the longitudinal component of the kinetic energy in side-berthing scenarios is assumed to be conserved as longitudinal motion and not absorbed by the fenders; and lastly, clarification that given the stated assumptions, the eccentricity coefficient in side-berthing scenarios only modifies the normal component of the total kinetic energy and therefore the input values used in the eccentricity coefficient equations must reflect the condition in which the velocity vector is normal to the fender base.

This paper presents the design challenges of the new Seward Marine Center Marine Facilities project. The proposed facilities will serve as the home port for the R/V Sikuliaq, a 261-ft oceanographic ice-capable research vessel. The facilities include two berths at an open pile fixed pier and a single berth at the seawall. A wave barrier wall is fixed to the pier to provide safe berthing of the vessels in the basin. Several layouts were investigated for the orientation of the facilities to provide optimal vessel accessibility. The pier structural design considers inertial, and liquefaction induced kinematic load per ASCE 61, as well as the incidental wave load on the barrier wall for 100-year return period event. Geotechnical investigation indicates ground improvement is recommended behind the seawall due to potential soil liquefaction.

The ability to collect and use large amounts of data is transforming our world. Using drone hardware and processing software to capture and digitally replicate assets gives owners the unprecedented ability to visualize and manage their infrastructure. With advancements in technologies such as unmanned aerial systems (UAS), reality modeling, mixed reality, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, there is a significant opportunity for port owners to improve the maintenance and operations of their infrastructure by using digital twins. A digital twin is a digital representation of a physical asset, process, or system, which allows us to better understand and communicate its performance. This paper highlights the process of acquiring a digital twin, connecting the model with its condition and maintenance data to augment the digital twin, and then using mixed reality technology to conduct remote condition assessment. This process can greatly increase the quality of inspection and information gathering while minimizing safety risks and reducing overall costs. Furthermore, the increase in the quality of data collected can greatly improve asset management, leading to cost savings for port owners and the public.

The Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) was started in 1948 to provide dependable marine transportation to Alaska’s coastal communities. Over the last 74 years, the system has expanded to 3,500 mi, providing service to over 35 communities and becoming the only marine route recognized as a National Scenic Byway and All-American Road. Properly maintaining the expansive system requires regular and thorough underwater inspections of the remote ferry terminals to properly identify deficiencies before they become serious and lead to capacity/safety issues and costly repairs. The marine highway system is considered part of the National Highway System (NHS) and receives federal highway funding; it also falls under the inspection requirements and frequencies of the National Bridge Inspection Standards (NBIS). This paper focuses on the history of the marine highway system, why it’s inspected, challenges encountered during inspections, facility configurations and materials, and underwater inspection findings encountered while inspecting Alaska’s remote ferry terminals, which are a critical transportation link for the communities they serve.

The primary focus of this paper is to highlight overarching project delivery challenges experienced by the Port of Long Beach (Port) related to zero emission infrastructure, including lessons learned encountered across real-world projects, and how the Port and its partners with support from various grant funding agencies overcame these barriers. Examples of these challenges include, but are not limited to, designing infrastructure while the equipment is still under development, ensuring equipment has Underwriters Laboratory (UL)/Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL) certifications, grappling with real estate constraints which limit project footprint, working through COVID-19 impacts to the supply chain and demonstration timeline, and delivering under stringent completion deadlines defined by grant funding. This paper will identify ways to mitigate these hurdles to the extent possible in future projects and will offer considerations for container terminal operators, utility providers, technology/equipment manufacturers, and grant funding agencies. Finally, this paper will share our vision for zero emission terminal infrastructure master plans.

There has been devastating ship-to-shore crane damage, including collapse, due to failure of the stowage systems during hurricanes. The design of these systems is complex, requiring an understanding of how the wharf stowage hardware interfaces with the crane hardware, both to facilitate connecting and disconnecting the hardware, and to account for subtle but significant loading conditions that occur. This paper aims to provide a broad knowledge base for designers of such systems, as well as present a recent project case study to illustrate some design and construction challenges. Topics covered include an overview of the stowage pin and tie-down hardware components on the wharf and crane, the technical and operational design considerations, recent innovations to solve design problems, and creative solutions for the substantial effects of offsets due to construction, of operational gaps, and of crane deformations during the design hurricane. The paper also includes a case study of a recent project at Port Everglades, Florida.

The Gò Công International Port (GCIP) and Landside Development is a sustainable program that satisfies the environment protection requirements as established by the Equator Principles risk management framework. It is funded by foreign direct investment and is not reliant on state capital. The program consists of various green/blue field elements including an offshore floating port complex. The onshore and nearshore development includes facilities for aquaculture research and development including educational facilities focusing on saltwater plant farming and mariculture. It supports various manufacturing, commercial, and residential facilities as well as ecotourism. The offshore port complex is to be an international gateway for the Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) area and the southeastern and southwestern regions of the Mekong Delta. This new port complex and onshore development will service the surrounding industrial centers using the region’s extensive fluvial network. The state-of-the-art port will support containerized, dry, and liquid bulk cargos, including the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Moreover, GCIP will establish supplemental and interim supply chain support as the region’s infrastructure improves and evolves to keep pace with the growth of Vietnam’s import/export economy.

The Port of Savannah Mason Mega Rail Project is an 85-acre intermodal facility that comprises 18 tracks for simultaneous operations of six 10,000-ft long trains. Upon completion, it will be the largest on-dock rail facility for a port authority in North America, which will help boost the Garden City Terminal’s (GCT) rail capacity to one million container lifts per year. A majority of the Mason Mega Rail site was an unregulated industrial landfill over low-lying land along a major drainage canal. The banks of the canal are underlain by very soft and compressible soils. The new rails were laid over the landfill, and two new rail bridges were constructed to cross the canal. The landfill debris and the soft marine deposits present major challenges to ground stability and settlements. The following six ground improvement techniques were employed to treat the landfill material and mitigate the settlement and stability concerns: dynamic compaction of the landfill, undercut and geogrid stabilization for wetlands, driven prestressed concrete piles for rail-mounted gantry (RMG) cranes and bridges, rigid inclusions for embankment stability, surcharging with wick drains for drainage structures with high fill, and geocell MSE walls along the edge of the rail yard. This paper outlines the project design process, subsurface conditions and associated challenges, geotechnical considerations of various ground improvement options, and experience and lessons learned from their applications.

The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles (San Pedro Bay Ports or Ports) comprise the largest port complex in the Western Hemisphere. The Ports rail system, supported by the Alameda Corridor and western transcontinental railroads, handles significant cargo volumes that have steadily increased since the inception of containerization. The Ports throughput reached 20 million TEUs in 2021, and this amount is projected to more than double by 2045. Maximizing the movement of containers via the Ports’ rail system is one of the key tenets and strategies of the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan, the California Sustainable Freight Action Plan, the California Freight Mobility Plan, and the California State Rail Plan. The Ports have proactively planned their rail systems to accommodate intermodal cargo growth since the late 1980s. The Ports, along with the western Class I railroads, have invested capital and operational resources to ensure their rail systems have the capacity to handle cargo demand. The rail system planning and investment are ongoing as demand continues to increase. This planning is enhanced by the lessons learned over several decades of Port rail operations. The COVID-19 pandemic has created extreme demand and myriad challenges to the international supply chain and brought intensive evaluation of Port operations and performance. The lessons learned in 2020–2021 and those from the previous decades are presented herein.

The Georgia Ports Authority’s (GPA) Mega Rail Project, located within the Garden City Terminal in Garden City, Georgia, has brought about unique civil engineering and port planning challenges. GPA has seen unprecedented growth over the last decade, which charged the existing on dock rail facilities with maintaining a level of throughput that stressed both the existing rail infrastructure and surrounding community. However, the solution, the Mega Rail Project, had to be constructed through what has become the fastest growing container terminal in the United States, while maintaining existing terminal operations. In addition, the port facility had to accommodate simultaneous operations for both CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern, both of which are Class I railroads. This paper will provide an engineering perspective on the planning and implementation of one of the largest on-dock rail facilities in the United States. GPA had two independent intermodal facilities, each providing service to one of the two Class I railroads, respectively. Because each facility was operating near capacity, GPA wanted to increase overall intermodal capacity and modernize the intermodal operations to prepare for future growth. The redevelopment and modernization included combining the two intermodal facilities into a single 130-acre facility, installing 20 mi of new rail, constructing two nine-track rail bundles, installing 10 rail-mounted gantry cranes (RMGs), spanning nine tracks with five RMGs in each bundle, and moving switching operations onto the terminal to accommodate six trains up to 10,000 ft in length. Understanding terminal operations, phasing construction, involving stakeholders, and communicating effectively were all key elements for a successful project implementation.

The Port of Long Beach (POLB) is executing the Pier B On-Dock Rail Support Facility Program (Program), which will enhance on-dock rail capacity at the port’s shipping terminals, speeding the movement of cargo and strengthening the port’s competitiveness. To relieve terminal and roadway congestion, future on-dock rail terminal operations will involve movements of small cuts of rail cars into and out of supporting yards with greater speed to accommodate long unit trains in the port. The Program addresses this congestion issue by reconfiguring, expanding, and enhancing the capacity of the existing Pier B Rail Facility. The 14-year, nearly $1-billion Program will provide for additional rail car storage and staging with 38 storage tracks totaling 93,000 track ft, allowing terminals and railroad operators the necessary space to operate efficiently. Besides track improvements, the Program includes extensive (POLB and third party) utility relocations, real estate property acquisitions (including business relocations), roadways, pump stations, structures (including bridges and buildings), compressed air, and many other improvements. Faced with increasing pressures to relieve congestion exacerbated by historically high COVID-19 shipping volumes, the highly complex Program charted a construction path forward, which balances (1) the duty to impacted business to be afforded due process, (2) being responsible stewards of capital funds, and (3) addressing the congestion issue as fast as possible. This paper will provide an overview of the complex multidiscipline nature of the Program, the main real estate constraints with highly variable timelines, and the process to arrive at a counter-intuitive contracting solution that eases congestion quickly while allowing POLB to capitalize on opportunities as they arise.

This study utilized automatic identification system (AIS) data to quantify the vessel traffic patterns across a port network from January 2015 to June 2020, with a focus on Puerto Rican and the US Virgin Island ports. Vessel movement data was used to measure the port-to-port connectivity (“centrality”) for all ports in the network and the interconnectivity of traffic between the system’s ports. AIS data allows the identification of vessel type in addition to the standard metrics of total tonnage and commodity tonnage when ranking the utilization of waterways. Vessel type, in conjunction with dominant commodity type and tonnage, provides a more complete picture of waterway utilization. Along with port-to-port connectivity, this knowledge expands understanding of maritime supply chain resilience by revealing potential redundancies between ports, robustness across supply chains, and the impacts of seasonality.

In 2010 the South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA) and the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) identified a need for widening and deepening the Charleston Harbor waterway network to address transportation inefficiencies of existing Post-Panamax cargo vessels and to prepare to accommodate Neo-Panamax vessels. The ensuing feasibility study, completed in 2015, was the first study to be initiated and completed using the USACE SMART Planning process to deliver the project through feasibility studies, authorization, and funding toward executing the deepening construction. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the challenges realized during the project and to briefly describe the processes used to resolve each. These challenges included the extensive studies undertaken to complete the feasibility study and establish the project scope, maintaining project funding through federal and local sources, coordination with other projects in the harbor and their impact on procurement and execution, and accommodating safety and operational measures for unexploded ordinance and other obstructions in multiple parts of the project area.

The Pacific coast of South America has few natural harbors or recreational boating facilities. To address growing demand, a purpose-built yacht and megayacht facility was designed for a new resort at Mancora, Peru. Metocean studies were performed to define the sea climate, and particularly to establish a design criterion to address long period swell. Numerical modeling was used to examine wave action and critical parameters for safe navigation, including wave breaking in the harbor approaches. Multiple breakwater arrangements were explored to develop solutions that provided adequate entrance wave sheltering and inner basin tranquility, and that mitigated entrance shoaling. The breakwater armoring was reverse engineered to work with available resources and materials. The initial design basis envisioned an inner basin for 290 yachts ranging in length from 11 m to 37 m. As breakwater and entrance channel design progressed, the harbor geometry evolved to provide an outer basin for larger vessels up to 100 m.

The federally authorized Jacksonville Harbor Navigation project—located in Duval County, Florida—begins offshore where the St. Johns River empties into the Atlantic Ocean and encompasses over 20 river miles. In 2021, the US Army Corps of Engineers funded a study, developed in collaboration with the project’s local sponsor—the Jacksonville Port Authority, to recommend the most efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally acceptable approach to manage dredged material over the next 20 years. Work began with the collection and analysis of 20 years of historical data documenting dredging and dredged material management actions. Based on this historical data, the study projected the dredged material management requirements and compared these versus an inventory of remaining storage/disposal capacities. To address capacity shortfalls, the plan developed and compared 11 new or modified dredged material management alternatives. The comparative analysis included estimated infrastructure costs, projected life cycle costs, environmental considerations, permit requirements, and implementation timelines.

Dredged materials are often viewed as a waste product and referred to as “dredged spoil.” Today, with extensive physical, chemical, and geotechnical testing and in conjunction with new guidance from the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE), dredged material is now recognized as a valuable resource. The Maryland Department of Transportation Maryland Port Administration (MDOT MPA) is providing national leadership on advancing the innovative reuse of dredged material through implementation of demonstration-scale projects, and research studies. MDOT MPA has also successfully shown how dredged sediments can be beneficially used to restore aquatic ecosystems and rebuild lost island habitat. MDOT MPA’s long-term goal is to make sustainable innovative reuse and beneficial use (IRBU) programs and projects to address capacity recovery and implement management solution within Maryland’s Dredged Material Management Program (DMMP), supporting the long-term success of the Port of Baltimore. Key components of this strategic plan include the advancement of policy, regulatory, technical, educational, stakeholder engagement, and program implementation objectives.

Persistent and excessive shoaling occurs in the outer harbor and approach channel of the Waukegan Harbor, Illinois. The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) applied numerical modeling to investigate a variety of structural solutions to intercept and divert sediments to reduce shoaling in the navigation channel. These solutions include breakwaters, groins, spurs, and structural extensions with varying length and crest elevation connecting to the north beach and existing north breakwater. Using an integrated wave-flow-sediment transport numerical modeling approach, results provide estimates of both shoaling volume and height with and without structural alternatives. The model results showed these alternatives could effectively reduce the channel shoaling rate.

This paper presents real-time vessel simulations performed by the design engineers to evaluate different phases and design alternatives of the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station Redesign. This simulation study shows the application of coastal engineering tools for real-time vessel simulation in conjunction with high resolution coastal modeling for waterway design. This study shows the benefit of performing navigation simulations to optimize the dredge footprint to improve maneuverability and to confirm safety of the proposed transits.

The Feasibility Study and Environmental Impact Statement for Houston Ship Channel (HSC) Expansion Channel Improvement Project (ECIP) was a four-year, $10 million effort which investigated improving deep draft navigation efficiency to accommodate larger vessels, reduce vessel traffic, and increase channel safety; planned dredged material placement; and established environmentally suitable dredged material placement areas. In partnership, the Port of Houston Authority (PHA), the non-federal sponsor, and the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) followed the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Risk Informed, Timely) Planning process for development of the Final Integrated Feasibility Report (FIFR) and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), including project scoping, alternative analysis, preliminary engineering, ship simulation, NEPA evaluation, and economic assessment. The paper provides an overview of the study process with respect to the HSC. One of the busiest seaports in the world, the HSC is a vital waterway connecting Houston’s industrial center to the world. As energy and manufacturing exports increase and vessel sizes grow, improving the channel is critical to sustaining national energy security, supporting domestic manufacturing growth, and expanding job opportunities.

Before 2017, Port Nelson’s Calwell Slipway was ranked the second most contaminated site in New Zealand, due to toxic materials that were historically used in boat antifouling. Maintaining the slipway’s navigability was fundamental to the port’s continued operation given the basin had not been dredged since 1984, but the sediment was too contaminated with copper, tributyltin, and other contaminants to dredge and dispose of offshore or upland. The port had to find an alternative. The solution comprised dredging the contaminated sediments and stabilising with a blend of ordinary Portland cement and activated carbon. Extensive laboratory testing and field trials were undertaken to determine optimum blend. This material was then used to reclaim additional land for the port. The stabilisation and beneficial reuse of contaminated sediments is a viable strategy for remediation of marine sediments where traditional disposal methods are not available, even in a developed port within a small footprint.

Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) monopile dolphins are replacing timber piling clusters for the Jamestown-Scotland Ferry terminals in Virginia. Adoption of this technology has resulted in both significant acquisition and maintenance cost savings for the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) which operates its ferry system as a free service to the public. The large 48-in. diameter monopiles replaced clusters of 37 timbers. The design of the FRP pile system was the subject of an award-winning paper by M. A. McCarty at the 2016 PORTS conference. The first set of monopiles was installed in 2019. Operational feedback from the VDOT has been extremely positive as the agency continues to implement its plan to replace wood cluster dolphins with FRP monopiles.

The push for creating more environmentally compatible shore and harbor protection often puts the reality of the needs for resilience and strength at odds with the needs of nature. Softer protection schemes, such as floating wave attenuators and non-bottom founded protection methods, are typically inadequate in resisting the ravages of the storm. On the contrary, the construction of solid ring breakwaters alters the texture of the shoreline and affects the biota. Out-of-the-box thinking was required to find an approach that could emulate the natural environment while being resilient enough to protect against hurricane events, promoting ecology, and offering safe and manageable navigation. The solution was found in building a protection system of artificial islands; this system of islands was configured to create wave sheltering, oriented to reduce long term sedimentation effects by controlling tidal flow patterns, and executed to be a living island archipelago with both benthic and terrestrial habitats.

Communities around the world have historically formed around access to water for drinking, agriculture, and transportation. Societal and individual project decisions affecting water are continually made, with significant decisions made generations ago continuing to influence current conditions just as current infrastructure investments will influence future generations. Conditions are not static, however. Land use changes, population migration, shifting cultural norms, increased effects of climate change, and the interdependency of supply chains all affect the sufficiency and resilience of water infrastructure. An appropriate balance of needs during planning, design, and recapitalization is both extremely important and difficult. All levels of government, stakeholder communities, and private citizens have roles and responsibilities which sometimes converge but often compete. Acceptable “resilient enough” performance levels vary widely based on who owns the risk of failure and their experience with past disasters. There is a need for resilience and sustainability expectations, particularly in and around natural water resources, to be baselined, shared, taught, and codified to support both technical designers, political decision-makers, and the electorate.

The MTS Resilience Integrated Action Team (RIAT) was established by the Coordinating Board of the US Committee on the Marine Transportation System (MTS) to focus on sharing federal agency knowledge to increase the resilience of the MTS. After the devastating 2017 hurricane season, the Coordinating Board requested that the RIAT gather information on the impacts, best practices, and lessons learned by federal agencies involved in the response and recovery of the MTS. The RIAT has focused its analysis on the ability of federal agency personnel to prepare, respond, recover, and adapt their response and recovery practices. Findings were gathered through annual workshops with first responders. A similar approach was adopted to gather findings from Hurricanes Florence and Michael (2018), Dorian (2019), and Laura, Delta, and Sally (2020). Utilizing successes, challenges, and best practices from the unique storms, the RIAT identified key takeaways in alignment with the four phases of resilience.

The large railroad network connecting West Coast ports and major inland markets is one of the most efficient freight transportation systems in the world. Strategies are continually evolving to use the network to move containers faster and more efficiently. To realize the full potential of this rail network, it is important that the first and last mile of the network can keep up with this pace. The Port of Long Beach (POLB) is a critical link in the global supply chain and is focused on evolving its on-dock rail system to attract shippers and rail carriers to improve the level of service and intermodal productivity. The Pier B On-Dock Rail Support Facility is a key part of the POLB rail investment program that ensures its productivity and competitiveness for years to come.

Coastal practice plays an essential role in flood resiliency projects. This paper addresses some fundamental topics in the coastal resiliency domain. These topics include the dynamic and non-linearity impacts of sea-level rise and storm surge and waves development of integrated coastal flood and urban drainage modeling. This paper also provides recommendations on selecting an appropriate model system and making sound engineering judgments to interpret the coastal model results. The topics discussed in this paper represent the current coastal practice to support the design of flood resiliency projects.

The Pier G Berths 212–214 terminal handles dry bulk material products, including coal, petroleum coke, soda ash, and sulfur, which are imported and exported primarily by rail. During a project to construct rail, paving, and wharf improvements at this terminal, significant corrosion was observed of the crane rails used by two ship loaders, railroad tracks, fastening clips, and other metal materials, which were embedded in the existing asphalt pavement. A quick initial corrosion study was performed while the construction was being performed. This initial study determined that a corrosive mix of water and dry bulk materials collecting below the pavement surface was the primary cause of the rapid rate of the pavement embedded metal component corrosion encountered. This paper will detail the more extensive subsequent rail corrosion investigation study that was performed to investigate the cause of extensive embedded railroad track and crane rail corrosion that was presumed to be occurring at the terminal, as well as to recommend corrosion monitoring applications to prevent undue failing of the embedded rail components and potential rail operation risks. The estimated service life of existing rails, recommended schedule for replacement, and recommended corrective measures to mitigate future rail corrosion are included in the study.

A green port adopts sustainable port development and operational objectives. The rapid growth of freight volumes due to increasing global trade and demand for mineral resources requires ports to increase capacity. Larger vessel sizes and more efficient product handling require increased berth sizes, navigable areas, and increased rail and road capacity. Port development to meet these demands puts pressure on surrounding towns and our natural environment. Public acceptance of the development of ports can therefore be tested. In response to public concern, governments are introducing increasingly stringent regulations. Today’s port development projects and operations need to address increasingly complex environmental and social issues to attain and maintain a social licence to operate and future-proof operations. Ports will need to adopt sustainable port development plans and sustainable ongoing operations to attain and maintain a social licence to operate.

British Columbia Ferry Services (BC Ferries) operates a “maritime highway” of passenger and vehicle ferries in British Columbia, Canada. As BC Ferries owns a significant amount of marine infrastructure, costs for repair or reconstruction are high, in addition to operational impacts that construction and ferry berth downtime may impart. BC Ferries has established a customized condition assessment system for conducting regulatory-mandated condition surveys to ensure thoroughness and consistency, to identify asset health, and to utilize risk based prioritization to maximize operating and capital budgets for future repairs/replacement of critical infrastructure.

The Seattle Multimodal Terminal at Colman Dock provides pedestrian and vehicular ferry service throughout the Puget Sound. The existing facility is a pile supported trestle deck with three ferry slips and a terminal building. The project involved replacing the old seismically vulnerable trestle and terminal building while maintaining an operating facility. Washington State Ferries, the project owner, utilized a general contractor/construction manager (GC/CM) delivery method, creating a shared outlook for owner, designers, and contractor. Washington State Ferries chose WSP and KPFF Consulting Engineers as the design team and selected the Hoffman/Pacific Pile and Marine Joint Venture as the contractor.

Operational planning and analysis of maritime facilities has traditionally been confined to examination of large facilities, where large capital investments and potential operating costs merit the time and effort required. With the advent of integrated port planning tools, the time and effort for essential planning have been reduced. Planning at smaller scales is now feasible and productive within the constraints of limited time and budget. Planning at smaller scales focuses on tactically planning the layout of the site and its operations. Operating requirements must be met while making sure that heavy equipment and workers can move safely in a confined space. Visualization of the operating space is crucial in communicating with facility operating staff and establishing consensus. Capital limitations must be respected as well as constraints imposed by existing labor relationships and labor deployment rules. The paper demonstrates, through a series of case studies, how advanced planning techniques can be applied to create viable solutions at smaller scales. The four case studies include container on barge facility within a larger terminal, dedicated reefer storage and service facility, logistics support facility serving a larger port complex, and small dry bulk facility in a new port complex.

The Pacific theater is a unique laboratory for investigating future contingency engineering best practices. Civil engineers can benefit from lessons learned accumulated over the past eight years at Pacific based ports and pier projects to lower reaction times and future operational risks. The Navy Facilities System Command (NAVFAC) is sharing its lessons learned in an effort to improve logistics efficiencies across the many stakeholders. Challenges addressed in this paper include transportation reach, flexible fuel source alternatives, indigenous materials, energy availability, quality of port facilities, pier designs and quality, secure storage staging, flexible funding, additive manufacturing challenges, engineering and architectural design timelines, urgency versus durability issues, timely reach back support, and the availability of many key construction materials.

The new Fireboat Station No. 35 is located at Pier 22½ in San Francisco along the Embarcadero. The existing fire station and fire boat berthing facilities at Pier 22½ were inadequate to meet the San Francisco Fire Department’s public service and water rescue needs. The project provides new and upgraded infrastructure and facilities for emergency equipment and personnel, improving the city’s capacity to meet future demands for water rescue and emergency-response services. Planning for the facility included identifying and securing funding, extensive stakeholder engagement, and adapting to future sea level rise. These were accomplished while minimizing visual impacts along the waterfront and incorporating sustainable design features that allow for continued operation of the facility even after a large seismic event. The float was designed to provide a stable platform for the building which included barge framing and bulkheads to support the walls and transfer span loads. This paper describes the project elements reviewed and systematic approach used during planning and preliminary design of the facility.

With the aging port infrastructure around the world, it is crucial to understand the current condition state of these structures and adopt cost effective and sustainable strategies to repair and maintain these assets. Over the past decade, considerable work was conducted on the mechanisms responsible for the deterioration of structures exposed to harsh environments and how to report condition and performance. Recently, a new generation of deterioration models and risk based management approaches combined with state-of-the-art geographical and sensor data technology have seen the day and are used on projects to assist port owners and engineers in optimizing the use of available funds in keeping their ports as safe and competitive as possible. This presentation covers the use of a proactive, predictive, and risk based asset management approach and its underlying principals in one of the world’s largest ports to build a long term asset planning that is able to visualize the consequences of constraints in available budget.

The Port of Los Angeles’ Public Access Investment Plan (PAIP) is a 10-year commitment that began in 2015 to allocate 10% of port operating income to build public access projects. This innovative approach provides approximately $200 million for public benefit and connectivity projects by deindustrializing the Los Angeles (LA) Waterfront with new public spaces within a working port. An additional approximate $200 million over 10 years was allocated to operate, maintain, and activate these spaces for public use. The LA Waterfront is 400 acres of port property that attracts more than two million visitors each year and encompasses the communities of San Pedro and Wilmington within the city of Los Angeles. This paper discusses how the PAIP started from community collaboration as part of the port’s promise to be transparent and sustainable and how it has progressed with the identified projects that are transforming the LA Waterfront.

Ports are a key part of community resilience. The ability of a port to be prepared before, survive during, and respond and recovery rapidly after a storm is key to the resilience of not only the port but the community and industries it serves. Storm and natural disasters represent acute threats to ports, but there are also more chronic long-term threats driven by climate change and associated sea level rise or changing rainfall intensities. Resilience or the ability of a port to recover quickly and build back from these events in a way that results in improved resistance and quicker recovery from future event requires both physical, planning, and financial measures. Physical measures can include engineering solutions such as flood barriers, the elevating of critical infrastructure and services, utility placement and hardening, storm surge barriers, drainage improvements, erosion protection, and adaptable engineered solutions that leave room for change. Planning measures include vulnerability assessments of the port facilities and supply chains, emergency response plans, continuity of operations plans, and post-disaster recovery plans. Financial measures include insurance, federal mitigation, emergency response, and recovery grants and funding through the port’s capital improvements.

The Port of Woodland (Port) has traditionally focused on developing inland industrial parks within Woodland, Washington. The Port purchased two waterfront sites in the 1960s with the intention of developing and leasing them for deep-water marine facilities along the Columbia River. Since the purchase of these properties, the Port has experienced significant barriers to development and the sites remain largely vacant to this day. The Port has recently employed a three-pronged approach to overcome historic barriers: (1) strategic partnerships, (2) comprehensive planning, and (3) environmental/recreational commitments. Through these approaches, the Port has gained significant momentum and has strategically positioned itself to transition from inland industrial development toward the development of deep-water marine facilities. The recent successes of the Port provide a model for other small ports facing similar obstacles and how those obstacles can be turned into opportunities.

The Asia‐Pacific region is central to US political, economic, and security interests, and therefore Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam (JBPHH) is a critically strategic installation linking mainland US to the Pacific. As such, JBPHH is programmed for a significant increase in vessel platform size and number, including submarines and multi-mission ballistic missile defense-capable ships, in the coming years. Increased mission requirements, coupled with the challenges in maintaining and updating World War II vintage infrastructure, necessitated the need for a long-term strategic approach to systematically address infrastructure investments in support of evolving mission objectives and wartime readiness. The Strategic Waterfront Infrastructure and Investment Plan (SWIIP) was developed to address mission and operational capability gaps over a 20-year horizon focusing on 114 waterfront facilities at JBPHH and involving existing facility evaluation; rehabilitation/upgrade project identification; project prioritization based on need and funding instrument; multi-supported command buy-in and concurrence; DD1391 PRI 0 funding document creation; and 20-year capital improvement plan development with interim solutions for urgent operational and mission-critical issues.

Naval Base San Diego is the principal homeport of the US Pacific Fleet, consisting of almost 2.5 mi (4 km) of waterfront and 12 general berthing piers. Six of the piers were built between 1941 and 1945, four piers between 1975 and 1989, with the remaining built since 2000. Replacing a pier costs approximately $100 million. The base has an operational constraint allowing for only one pier to be taken out of operation at any one time. The navy required an improved method for determining the expected performance of the existing piers over time. This will allow the navy to prioritize the order of replacement in a “just in time” approach. This paper describes a systematic approach that was developed that incorporates service life modeling and structural analysis with traditional condition assessment methods to predict both the current and future capacity of a concrete pier. The paper provides a summary of the process including how to establish a representative rate of deterioration of the pier structure over time utilizing prior inspection findings, field observations, and laboratory testing. It also describes how service life modeling and structural analysis is used to develop current and future crane load capacity maps forecasting the performance of the structure at regular increments up to 50 years in the future. The paper addresses challenges that can be encountered with the approach including information gaps such as limited or missing record drawings, budget or access constraints limiting the number of cores that can be collected and tested, and variability in corrosion rates over time after start of corrosion initiation. To date six Naval Base San Diego piers have been evaluated using this evaluation method. The paper summarizes how the findings have been used by the navy and lessons learned on how this approach can be applied to other waterfront facilities.

The Port of Long Beach (POLB) is the premier US gateway for trans-Pacific trade and a trailblazer in innovative goods movement, safety, environmental stewardship, and sustainability. As the second-busiest container seaport in the United States, POLB handles trade valued at more than $194 billion annually. Providing well-coordinated traffic management is critical to enhancing the port’s overall operations. Infrastructure projects at the POLB, small and large, all involve some level of traffic management. The larger the project, the greater the need to minimize impacts to port operations and the movement of people and goods through the port’s transportation system. In 2021, the POLB completed two major multi-year construction projects, the Gerald Desmond Bridge (GDB) Replacement Project and the Middle Harbor Redevelopment Project. The success of these projects largely depended on how well extremely complicated construction activities were coordinated and operated within the dynamic port area. It took a significant amount of effort from all port divisions and terminal operators, as well as constant communication between both internal and external stakeholders to address traffic management issues. Having a dedicated, efficient, and coordinated traffic management team greatly alleviated the potential for turmoil arising from simultaneously coordinating billion-dollar construction projects with a combination of operational challenges, including the steady increase in trade over the last decade, servicing some of the world’s largest container ships, and heavy truck traffic and queueing in and out of the terminals. Effective coordination also required close interaction with port railroad operators to ensure they were informed about construction and roadway traffic changes. In April 2013, when the GDB Replacement Project announced upcoming construction activities and roadway closures, there were serious concerns from the Port of Long Beach’s tenants/terminal operators. This led to the formation of the Port Area Construction Traffic (PACT) team. The primary focus of the PACT team was to help the bridge contractor successfully implement the construction schedule and, at the same time, ensure the uninterrupted flow of roadway traffic. This team included representatives from multiple divisions within the port and external partners. The team met on a weekly basis and was later renamed the Port Traffic Management (PTM) team. This effort also included innovative technology support from the port’s security team, which was responsible for the installation of hundreds of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras and the use of an online dashboard portal called the “virtual port” to access the live video feed from the CCTV cameras. This paper discusses the evolution of various traffic management strategies and innovative technologies that the team used as part of the successful completion of the GDB Replacement and Middle Harbor projects, along with several other key infrastructure projects within the port.

Cost estimating is an integral part of engineering, regardless of the discipline or type of project. Costing estimating resources are widely available and seemingly reliable when used for civil, building, and transportation projects. However, the complexities of marine construction projects add a layer of difficulty when it comes to cost estimating, often leading to widespread inaccuracies in budgeting and funding throughout the planning and design process. These complexities can include several factors such as specialized offshore equipment, limited qualified contractors, weather-related contingencies, elevated project risks, and increased potential for differing site conditions. These factors are not well defined or given direction in any one resource and are typically only considered holistically by those with a thorough understanding of means and methods of marine construction, locality characteristics, contract vehicles and funding constraints, bidding environment, and the applicability and limitations of each costing resource. The recent impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in unprecedented escalations in material costs, with steel prices rising over 70% and lumber prices rising over 300% in a six-month period. The sudden increase in material costs sent owners, contractors, and engineers scrambling to find additional funding and explore alternative design approaches for ongoing projects. Supply chain problems and withdrawals in the labor market exacerbated these issues. While events like this are unpredictable and almost impossible to prepare for, it reinforces the importance of having accurate and detailed engineering estimates, that include appropriate contingencies and adjustment factors that can help account for market fluctuations. Cost estimating, in the planning and design process, and cost management during construction go hand-in-hand, where insufficient detail in contract documents can be buried cost drivers, artificially inflating bid prices or increasing the risk of change orders and contract creep during construction. In addition to providing accurate cost estimates during the planning and design stage, it is equally as important that the same level of detail is carried through to the production of contract documents, to ensure costs are effectively managed during bidding and construction. This paper provides an overview of the different levels of cost estimating; different types and suitability of some of the costing resources available; cost estimating procedures and determination of contingency levels; factors that warrant careful consideration due to their significant impact on the cost of marine projects; and some methods to help improve cost management and cost control during construction.

The South Carolina Ports Authority’s (SCPA) Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal (HLT) is the first container terminal to open in the United States since 2009. The project spanned nearly 20 years and cost almost $1 billion to open. The site development phase of the project began in 2018 and consisted of major terminal development required to complete the project, including multiple construction, equipment, and professional services agreements totaling over $430 million. However, the timeline for this phase coincided with unprecedented challenges in the construction market, as well as the global supply chain. Through the use of innovative procurement and contracting strategies and constant coordination with the design team, local stakeholders, state and federal agencies, tenants, and contractors, the SCPA ultimately delivered the terminal on time and under budget. This paper discusses some of the specific challenges faced during site development and strategies used to overcome them.

Transitioning 230 acres (93 hectares) of a former naval complex containing a dredge disposal area, tidal marsh, 60 acres (24 hectares) of land reclaimed at the Cooper River and a World War II-era airfield into the South Carolina Ports Authority’s (SCPA) newest container terminal required creative and expansive infrastructure and site preparation. Beginning in 2007 with the demolition of the existing facilities and continuing through the import of over 5,844,000 cubic yards (CY) (4,468,000 m³) of fill material, the installation of over 6,300 mi (10,100 km) of wick drains, and the driving of thousands of piles to support multiple structures, the geotechnical concerns on this project were significant and highlight the challenges the SCPA and their partners overcame to successfully open the terminal in March 2021. This case study presents the process of site preparation for the new Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal (HLT) in North Charleston, South Carolina, including lessons learned from geotechnical project challenges.

The Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal (HLT) is the first greenfield container terminal to open in the United States since 2009. The purpose of this paper is to briefly cover the history of the terminal site and its impact on future terminal development, the existing site conditions prior to site preparation, and the challenges and lessons learned during the early planning, permitting, and resulting mitigation requirements that set the stage for the terminal’s successful development. This paper will also briefly introduce three companion papers that supplement this discussion and illustrate the remaining tasks undertaken by the project team to put HLT into operation and prepare for future terminal development.

Phase 1 of the South Carolina Ports Authority’s (SCPA) Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal (HLT) included construction of a new, concrete pile-supported marginal wharf measuring 1,400 ft (427 m) in total length, supporting five 100-ft (30 m) gauge electrified ship-to-shore (STS) cranes and accommodating 20,000 TEU container vessels. The next phase of the terminal includes an additional 1,600 ft (488 m) of wharf, which will support additional STS cranes. This paper highlights realized successes and select challenges encountered, and the corresponding lessons learned during phase 1 wharf construction that directly informed the design of the next phase. Ultimately, insights gained during phase 1 construction added value to the design of the wharf extension. This paper presents practical design, operational, and construction considerations for engineering professionals, container terminal owners, and operators and marine contractors alike.

The Long Beach Container Terminal at Port of Long Beach’s Middle Harbor is one of the most advanced terminals in the world and will be fully operational by 2022. Unlike conventional container terminals, where the layout and operation strategy can be modified relatively inexpensively and quickly, automated terminals require planning and design from early stages of development for a specific mode of operation and layout. Consequently, stakeholders must identify long-term goals for the terminal, and involvement of all parties from inception is paramount. The focus of this paper is to highlight the integrated manner in which this project was delivered to achieve stakeholder goals.

In December 2017, submarine forces at NSB Kings Bay identified the need to recapitalize the dry dock. Submarine forces also identified 12 continuous months, beginning in fall 2021, where the Kings Bay Dry Dock (KBDD) submarine maintenance schedule had been cleared. It was within this 12-month timeline that all recapitalization construction would need to occur. The KBDD recapitalization request was delivered to Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Southeast (hereafter call “the owner”) for execution. With that, the massive KBDD recapitalization project that involved scoping, assessment, and design development processes began. This paper discusses key elements of the project, including project scoping, architect and engineer (A&E) scoping study and risk assessment, expedited design process, phasing, project scope, early industry engagement, acquisition strategy, and award fee plan. Active collaboration, team building, maintaining flexibility, and streamlining processes were all key components to the owner and the A&E design team delivering a quality design and early construction award.

Located on the west bank of the Guayas River and in the largest city of Ecuador, Contecon Guayaquil S.A. de C.V. (CGSA) Terminal is one of Ecuador’s busiest container terminals and plays an important role in supporting the country’s position as the number one exporter of bananas. The terminal has more than 5,000 linear feet of berth with about half of the length capable of supporting NeoPanamax vessels. The terminal owner embarked on an ambitious capital infrastructure program to deepen and upgrade approximately 2,300 ft (700 m) of container berths and modernize two ship-to-shore container cranes to service 20-wide container ships. The deepening of the berth was achieved via the region’s first completely underwater toe wall installation that allowed the owner to dredge the berth pocket without impacting the framing of the existing berths. This paper describes the unique design approach and successful sequencing of installation of the underwater toe wall and will serve as a useful example for deepening of existing berths for other owners.

The Port of Long Beach (POLB) has completed construction of the Middle Harbor Program Redevelopment, Phase 3. Improvements included administration, labor break and roadability buildings, final wharf segment and backlands area, automated container stacking areas and intermodal yard, and new terminal in and out gate located on the southern end of the terminal. Electric automated guided vehicles (AGVs) powered by large batteries are responsible for transporting containers to and from the wharf backlands to the stacking areas and are key to optimizing the tenant’s operations and terminal throughput. The North Battery Exchange Building (North BXB) is a state of the art and highly technical building which utilizes the tenant’s battery exchange system (BES) to provide automated battery charging and exchanges of AGV batteries as part of the Phase 1 Middle Harbor Redevelopment Program. Once constructed and operational, the tenant determined the North BXB may not provide redundancy to their operations if an issue caused the building to be temporarily non-operational. A second battery exchange building, the South Battery Exchange Building (South BXB), was required to allow operational flexibility and resiliency by the tenant. These battery exchange buildings are the first two of their kind in North and South America, and their integration into the Middle Harbor Terminal (MHT) presented many challenges. The topics in this paper include an overview of South BXB design features and requirements as well as implementing lessons learned from the North BXB into the design and construction of the South BXB.

This paper discusses the development of a new marine terminal to meet the demands for oil export from the Permian Basin. By the end of 2018, it was clear that the originally proposed VLCC terminal design would not be approved by the USACE and had to be redesigned. The consortium could not extend the schedule for the development of their new South Texas Gateway Terminal. Buckeye Partners selected a team of engineering and construction firms to meet the aggressive schedule to permit, redesign, and construct the first berth of the marine terminal within 18 months and complete the facility within 24 months. The new terminal configuration included approximately 3.5 M cubic yards of excavation/dredging, 2 modular loading platforms, 2 modular trestles, 2 access ramps, 8 breasting dolphins, 12 mooring dolphins, interconnecting walkways, berth equipment, and piping to accommodate vessels ranging from ocean going barges (OGB) to very large crude carriers (VLCC). The aggressive schedule required focused design criteria, permit applications, accelerated design for long lead items, procurement and coordination, and communication and collaboration between the Buckeye team, regulatory agencies, and contractors. The first phase included the development of permit plans and coordination with the USACE, Port of Corpus Christi, Aransas-Corpus Christi Pilots, local agencies, and full mission bridge simulations. The second phase included geotechnical subsurface investigations, environmental criteria assessment, simultaneous design of dredge material placement areas, access and waterside structures, piping, and the start of demolition of an existing shipyard and graving dock. The third phase included procurement, offsite fabrications and transport to site, and coordination with contractors for changing site conditions. The paper discusses the planning, design criteria, permitting coordination, construction issues, the various alternative delivery methods, selection of the most cost-effective and schedule driven options, and lessons learned for future terminal projects.

The Port of Corpus Christi Authority (POCCA) is USA’s largest oil export port; however, in recent years, POCCA has implemented a strategic initiative to diversify its business and incorporate bulk cargo handling capabilities. As part of this initiative, POCCA recently completed an expedited and successful design-build delivery of a new cargo dock in the inner harbor geared toward cement imports from Handymax vessels with the option of future conversion to a liquid bulk dock for Aframax vessels. The imported cement is taken off the ship with a rail-mounted ship unloader to a high-level conveyor supported at the back of the dock to shoreside silos. The dock layout provides space for future liquid bulk handling systems. This paper describes the streamlined delivery process and optimized dock structure framing that will serve as a model to the port community. The design and construction of the new cargo dock was executed using a two-step design-build process consisting of contractor prequalification and a technical/financial final bid submission. Scope included dredging of the dock pocket, construction of the marine structures, and coordination of the owner procured special ship unloader and cement conveying topside equipment. The design accounted for the future 60-ft dredge depth of the inner harbor and consideration of passing effects of a Suezmax vessel. To meet the expedited timeframe, the winning design-build team adopted a design consisting of an open pile-supported structure, approximately 681 ft long and 52 ft 6 in. wide and connected to the shoreline at its east end with a 180-foot-long access trestle. Monopile dolphins at the ends provided ship mooring capability for both Handymax and Aframax vessels. To expedite construction, the design-build team adopted a modular design using plumb and batter precast, prestressed concrete piles supporting precast concrete pile caps, beams, and deck panels. The project was successfully delivered in about 15 months from commencement and has become a prized addition to POCCA’s marine assets.

To serve the expanding offshore wind industry, a marshaling port is being developed at the New London State Pier facility. This port offers unrestricted open water access, proper channel depth, proximity to offshore wind generation sites, and will be the first US port to accommodate purpose-built wind turbine installation vessels. The existing, single berth facility consists of two piers of older vintage. Terminal operations require 30 acres of contiguous level land and two heavy lift berths. The site alterations include a 7-acre, 400,000 CY land fill between the two existing piers, demolition of the existing berth and installation of a pile supported heavy lift platform, installation of a second heavy lift platform at the uplands berth, and installation of full height and submerged bulkhead walls around the perimeter of the improvements. This paper describes the planning of the terminal and engineering and construction challenges faced in design.

The new Mukilteo Multimodal Ferry Terminal in Washington State opened in December 2020 and replaced the seismically vulnerable ferry terminal located less than half a mile southwest that was built in 1957. The new terminal was designed to better serve the Mukilteo-Clinton ferry route that moves more than two million vehicles and nearly four million riders annually between Whidbey Island and the Seattle-Everett area. Liquefiable site conditions and lateral spreading concerns required close coordination between structural and geotechnical engineering disciplines to develop suitable design solutions. The paper primarily focuses on various design concepts identified and assessed through interactive collaboration between structural and geotechnical engineering disciplines before selecting the design solutions finally adopted for construction.

A developer acquired the historic City Recreation Pier property in Baltimore, Maryland, with the intent to build a world class hotel. A condition assessment deemed the existing pier unrepairable at the time of purchase. The pier served the surrounding community in several historically important roles; therefore, preserving the existing pier was important to the owner and the Maryland Historical Trust. A new pier was to be built that would envelope the existing pier, preserve its significance, and support the future loads of the renovated hotel building. Unique construction challenges were encountered working around and preserving the existing structure. Atypical design and construction techniques were implemented to overcome these challenges. Discovery of historical artifacts during construction were incorporated into the design and narrative of the new world class facility now known as Sagamore Pendry Baltimore.

The deep waters off of the US West Coast and Hawaii dictate that renewable energy goals, and specifically offshore wind development goals, be achieved with floating offshore wind solutions. As floating offshore wind is a new industry with no existing dedicated marine terminals on the US West Coast or Hawaii, the specialized onshore infrastructure needed to support this development have yet to be addressed in detail. An overview of the floating offshore wind technologies that may be deployed in the deep waters of these regions is presented to understand the scale and complexity of work that ports will need to accommodate. Key aspects of terminal planning for fabrication, assembly, and wind turbine integration of these various foundation systems are explored to provide an understanding of facility functional requirements, highlighting the differences in infrastructure where it depends on the selected type of offshore wind technology. Additionally, port considerations such as navigation rules, air draft restrictions, and channel limitations are examined.

As coastal cities grow in population size and higher demands are placed on cargo delivery and cargo capacity, port authorities, port owners, and port operators face increasing challenges to meet these demands while minimizing the impact to their increasingly urbanized environment. At Neptune Bulk Terminals Ltd. (NBTL)’s dry bulk export terminal in North Vancouver, Canada, an ambitious expansion plan to increase the terminal’s throughput capacity by 140% faced extensive challenges including an unyielding and congested site footprint, the division of the terminal site into sub-lot properties among different shareholders, internal and external bottlenecks, and strict permitting requirements from the regulatory authorities. Innovative measures were required to address these constraints, including improving the flexibility of the receiving system, establishing bypass routes to avoid bottlenecks, adding redundancy and automation to improve operational efficiency, replacing equipment with higher throughput upgrades, and developing emissions reductions and monitoring strategies to satisfy the permit requirements. As demonstrated by the NBTL expansion, contemporary terminal design must not only accommodate the needs of the terminal owner and operator, but also those of the neighbouring communities.

San Francisco Bay Ferry–Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA) required a new passenger ferry terminal to connect San Francisco with the city of Richmond across San Francisco Bay. The route is essential to everyday commuter travel and emergency evacuation of San Francisco especially in the aftermath of an earthquake. WETA needed a new facility, designed for seismic resiliency as an essential facility with high potential of remaining in service following a large design earthquake event. The facility also needed to be resilient to sea level change over the facility design life of 100 years. Richmond passenger ferry terminal is one of the first resilient waterfront transportation facilities in the United States. The paper discusses the dual challenges of designing for both seismic events and higher tide levels due to climate change. The terminal is an excellent example of a public transportation agency successfully partnering with a municipality, local community, regulatory environmental and permitting agencies, and engineers and contractors to plan, design, permit, and build a modern, resilient waterfront facility that honors historic sentiment, while reducing traffic on Bay Area highways by providing daily use for commuters. The ferry terminal was opened to the public in January 2019.

Most of the graving docks in the United States (US) were constructed in the first half of the 20th century or before, with only two new graving docks constructed in the last 55 years. The navy has a comprehensive, 20-year plan to modernize its four naval shipyards in the US through the Naval Sea Systems Command’s (NAVSEA) Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP). Replacing aging graving dry docks is part of the SIOP program and fulfills a vital role in the national defense. A new graving dry dock is being designed at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam (JBPHH), Hawaii, based primarily on United Facilities Criteria (UFC) for graving dry docks (UFC 4-213-10). The authors identified numerous opportunities for improvement in the criteria for design. This paper will examine challenges associated with graving dock design and identify gaps in design guidance with particular emphasis on solutions implemented for this project.

This paper presents the project team’s recent experience in providing planning and simulation services for a large-scale container terminal consolidation project that included a smart port initiative aimed to increase capacity and productivity, optimize resource usage, and reduce traffic congestion. A signature planning approach was applied to first clearly define the business case and, from there, to develop a balanced layout to match throughput capacity for the berth, yard, gate, and intermodal through careful planning and analysis, and, finally, to reconfigure the gate and the roads to achieve a smooth traffic flow. Dynamic simulation models were developed to analyze and evaluate terminal capacity, performance, and equipment needs for the consolidated terminals. Phase I construction of the project was completed in 2019 according to the developed plan, and the resulting consolidated terminal operation reflected improved terminal efficiency and a smoother traffic flow at terminal gates and circulation roads.

The San Francisco Fire Department acquired a new floating fire station at Pier 22½ for their fireboat fleet. The station is built on a 9 ft × 95 ft × 173 ft (2.7 m × 29 m × 53 m) steel float that is moored with four 60 in. (1.52 m) diameter steel piles. A new pile-supported steel pier structure connects to the float via a steel access ramp. The floating station design is unique, having a steel float with an attached building that houses personnel at the station full time, accommodating sea-level rise, and designed as an essential facility with a 50-year design life. Even though this project was unusual, many of the items to consider and lessons learned can be applied to improve designs on more typical projects, such as ferry terminals. This paper will discuss some of those items.

The Washington State Ferries system serves as critical infrastructure for the traveling public throughout the Puget Sound region. Disruption to ferry service can have major impacts on the travelers and commuters. A natural hazard that can affect ferry terminals are tsunamis. Ferry terminals and pier structures are located overwater, typically a few feet above high tide, making them susceptible to tsunami velocities and inundation. Common perception is that tsunamis have a large impact on coastal regions from the Cascadia Subduction Zone, but Puget Sound is also vulnerable from not only the Cascadia fault, but also the Alaska and local faults. There are 20 Washington State ferry terminals in Puget Sound, each of them being susceptible to the effects of a tsunami. As an effort to make ferry terminals resilient to this hazard, probabilistic tsunami modeling at each ferry terminal was performed which includes all known seismogenic sources at different return periods. This modeling produced probabilistic tsunami amplitude, velocity, and momentum flux specific to each terminal site. The data was then converted to load cases using the most appropriate applications from ASCE 7-22 and AASHTO Guide Specifications for Bridges Subject to Tsunami Effects. Neither document has a design approach specific to pier structures, so interpretation is necessary for application. This study will describe the methodology of using the site-specific tsunami data to develop loading and design criteria on the ferry structures.