Evolution of a Container Terminal Wharf Design at the Port of Long Beach Middle Harbor Terminal

Abstract

A modern container wharf is a complex system consisting of: Retention of maintainable water depth at fender line; Fenders and bollards; Gantry crane support beams and rails; Gantry crane power and communications cable anchor vaults and trench system; Utility systems to support the vessel, including potable water and shore power (cold-ironing); A deck to support container traffic, out-of-gauge cargo traffic, vessel hatch covers and to provide access to vessels. From the project’s beginning, the Middle Harbor Terminal (MHT) wharf design attempted to serve the largest vessels likely to call at the terminal during its expected life. But, as has been the case for over 50 years, everything about container vessels and terminal technology remains in a state of change. This paper will show how evolving vessel and crane size—and terminal operating technology—caused details of the wharf design to change during the planning, design, and construction of the MHT wharf. Increasing vessel size and resultant crane size affected the structural design criteria. Changing terminal technology, including automation, affected the crane power requirement and cable size. This paper focuses only on the design changes prompted by increased design vessel and crane size. Many other issues were dealt with and those should be addressed in other papers, including: seismic slope-pile interaction and crane-wharf interaction, bollards and fenders for container vessels of 20000 TEU and larger, pile driving, navigation, crane power supply infrastructure, and vessel cold-ironing.