ja_mageia

In May 2009, Port Canaveral will welcome the first of its new homeported megaships — Royal Caribbean International’s 3,600-passenger Freedom of the Seas. As part of the process of rolling out the red carpet for her arrival, a $7.8 million Port Authority project is under way to modify the entrance to the West Turning Basin. The goal is to smooth the navigational path for the Freedom and her later arriving mega-cousins by cutting off a projecting corner of land at the entrance to the basin.

Big Job Calls For Big Equipment…

The project requires two steps. In the first step, land-based excavators are used to remove material from the corner cut-off site down to an elevation of -13 feet MLLW. Upland containment facilities are constructed to contain and process the removed soil for re-utilization in future projects. Once the materials suitable for future beneficial upland use have been transferred, a clamshell dredge and dump barges take over, removing the remainder of the dredge prism to a depth of -36 feet MLLW and depositing materials both off-shore for disposal and near-shore for beach re-nourishment.

Read the Full Article (PDF)

The Columbia River Consolidated Materials Dredging Project consisted of dredging more than 1.2 million cubic yards of consolidated materials to -51 MLLW in the area between river miles 104 and 105 adjacent to the Port of Vancouver, WA.

J.E. McAmis utilized the backhoe dredge Megan-Renee and a custom built rock bucket to successfully dredge the difficult bottom conditions which included hundreds of boulders up to 8 feet across.  This project was completed ahead of schedule, with no lost time accidents and a perfect environmental record.  The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Portland District issued J.E. McAmis an outstanding performance evaluation for the project.

Marina del Rey, considered the largest man-made marina in the world sits just north of the Port of Los Angeles and just to the south of Venice Beach.  In 2007, J.E. McAmis removed more than 255,000 cubic meters of material from the entrance channel of Marina del Rey and transported the material via dump barge to a near shore disposal area for restoration of Dockweiler Beach.

Read the full article (PDF)

J.E. McAmis completed this project on-time with no safety or environmental incidences, and received and outstanding performance evaluation from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles District.

Peanut Island is located along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway east of the Port of Palm Beach and adjacent to the city of Palm Beach. The Island was created in 1918 as the result of construction of the inlet, which opens the Intracoastal Waterway (Lake Worth) to the Atlantic Ocean. Over the years Peanut Island has played a key role in dredge management of Palm Beach Harbor and the Intracoastal. The Island has served as a home for the US Coast Guard and the historic Kennedy Bunker, a presidential safe house during the 1962 Cuban-missile crisis.

Peanut Island is owned and operated by the Florida Inland Navigation District (FIND), The Port of Palm Beach and Palm Beach County. Since the early 1990s an ongoing design process for the future of Peanut Island has been in development. In 2003 a team of environmental and construction engineers led by the US Army Corps selected a proposal submitted by California based Civil and Marine contractor J.E. McAmis to undertake a massive environmental restoration of Peanut Island and subsequent creation of the Snook Islands Natural Area.

The project broke ground in June of 2003 with an estimated three (3) year construction schedule.

Environmental Challenges

Peanut Island and the surrounding waterways are abundant with marine animal and plant life. The proximity of Peanut Island to the Gulf Stream makes the area one of the finest for fishing and diving anywhere in the world. The pristine waters brought to shore by the swift moving Gulf Stream make even the slightest bit of turbidity in the water visible for hundreds of feet. Many species of marine life including Sea Turtles, Manatees, Johnson’s Sea Grass, and Mangroves inhabit the waters surrounding Peanut Island. The very nature of the environment around the Island and the general purpose of the entire project mandated that each employee treat environmental issues on the same level as safety.

Project Execution

The first order of business on Peanut Island was to remove any non-native or invasive vegetation from the project sites. This removal included clearing, grubbing and chipping over 40 ac. of densely foliated land. More than 80% of the vegetation removed was recycled as mulch and spread through many of the proposed Maritime Hammock areas or used as a slope stabilizer in defoliated areas.

Excavation began immediately after enough land had been cleared to operate heavy equipment. The earthmoving consisted of excavation and transportation of materials approximately 10 mi. south on the Intracoastal Waterway to the Snook Islands natural area site. Earth was moved by hydraulic excavators, trucks and scrapers, transported to the Westside of the Island and placed into a hopper which fed a conveyor system set-up for barge loading.

Read the Full Article in World Dredging Mining & Construction, July 2005 (PDF)

McCormick and Baxter Superfund Site, Stockton, CA Surface Water Operable Unit; Sediment Remedial Action; Phase II work consists of remediation of the Surface Water and Sediment Operable Unit of the McCormick & Baxter Site (Site), located in San Joaquin County, Stockton, California (CA).

The remediation is being conducted under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) as amended by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA), and will implement the selected cleanup alternative specified in the Record of Decision (ROD), dated 31 March, 1999. All applicable Federal, state, and local regulations shall be adhered to by the Contractor.

The remediation was divided into two phases. The bank protection, Phase I, has already been completed. This contract consists of the sediment cap, Phase II of the remediation of the Surface Water-Sediment Operable Unit, at the site in accordance with the ROD.

Objective

This remedial action is intended to address potential current and future impacts to human health and the environment resulting from chemical contamination at the Site.

Background

The MBSS is located on 29 ac. near the Port of Stockton, CA. To the north, this former industrial site borders the
Old Mormon Slough, which joins the Stockton Deep Water Ship Channel on the San Joaquin River. The site
consists of the Surface Water-Sediment Operable Unit, consisting of the Old Mormon Slough, as well as the Soils-Groundwater Operable Unit.

Read the full article in World Dredging Mining & Construction, September 2006 (PDF)