Reclamation Material at Kingstown Port Loss Due to Declutching
Declutching of sheet piles at the new $600 million Kingstown port in St. Vincent resulted in the lost of some reclamation material.
Declutching” in the context of sheet piling refers to when individual sheet pile sections become disengaged from their interlocks, meaning they are no longer properly connected to each other, essentially “unlocking” during installation or due to soil conditions, compromising the structural integrity of the sheet pile wall.
The island’s prime minister, Ralph Gonsalves, on Wednesday said the issue came to light during dredging to achieve the design depth in front of the quay wall.
A quay wall is a long structure built along the shore that allows ships to dock and transfer goods.
“The dredging was being undertaken in front of the quay wall to remove excess reclamation material to attain the design depth. This is something that is clutched on to the piles. So, for some of them, there is a declutching. The issue was identified by the contractor and by the project oversight Unit”.
“It has been under continuous investigation and communication among all the relevant parties. And what has happened up to now is that there has been a full survey of the quay wall revealing the extent of where the sheet pile clutches had disengaged.”
“The design was reviewed to assess the stability of the quay wall, and a remedial solution was developed and reviewed to address the issue.”
Gonsalves reaffirmed the identification, analysis, and existence of a remedial, engineering solution to the problem.
“I’ve been advised that the contractors propose an industry standard engineering solution which is widely accepted for large scale civil engineering projects. And the solution will be implemented as part of the contractor’s contractual obligations,” Gonsalves stated.
