Joint Effort Rapid Response Minimizes Downtime During Fuel Oil Dock Replacement

Abstract

Increased marine borer activity in urban waters as a result of recent clean-up efforts has caused major economic and safety impacts on old waterfront structures. Significant portions of these structures were built on timber piles when there was little or no risk of marine borer attack. Many of these structures are still in use today. This paper depicts the inspection, evaluation, partial collapse as a result of marine borer attack, and subsequent replacement of a 193 meter long timber pile supported low-level relieving platform in New York Harbor. The example is particularly important because the critical condition of the dock was assessed and documented by an inspection team of professional engineers and engineer-divers prior to the collapse. Shortly after the submittal of the inspection report to the client, one-third of the dock collapsed. Fuel-oil unloading at the dock was immediately terminated after the collapse, imposing a major economic burden on the power generating station that was dependent on receiving oil via the dock. In the following sections, a general description of the dock, the inspection results and subsequent structural evaluations, and the post-collapse field inspection evidence to describe the partial collapse mechanism are given. Then, the fast-track design effort to replace the dock and the accelerated construction schedule are discussed. This paper demonstrates the extent of the threat imposed on urban waterfront structures by marine borers. A significant number of similar structures in New York Harbor and other locations are at risk. However, the level of risk cannot be readily quantified unless a detailed inspection and evaluation is performed, as was the case discussed in this paper. Timely inspection and preparation of contingency plans as a result of this inspection significantly reduced the downtime of the fuel offloading facility which is a vital component of the electricity generating operations.