Friday, June 26, 2015

Liverpool2 marks construction milestone



Construction at the new $500-million container terminal being built at the Port of Liverpool has reached an advanced stage, according to a port statement. Work to reclaim approximately 29 acres of land has passed the first stage with further infilling due to take place over the summer.

The majority of 296 steel piles have been driven into the seabed, the port says, allowing the infilling of 1.43 million tons of sand and silts taken from the Mersey estuary and deposited behind the new quay wall, up to a level of (+)19.5 feet above ordinary levels.

"There are very few projects of this kind and scale going on in the UK, especially considering the impact

of the exceptional tidal range," said Doug Coleman, Liverpool2 construction director. "We can only carry out the installation of anchor blocks and other infrastructure, including vibrocompaction, for a maximum of eight hours each day – two hours either side of each low tide. The one benefit is that the weight of water during high tide helps to compress the infilled material."

"The tide also means that for every million tons we bring in, we lose about 2.5 percent, which is not significant in the scheme of things and is helped by our deliberate strategy of installing the new sewerage outfall pipe which acts as a barrier to minimize losses."


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