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24 de julho de 2012
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Work advances on the largest multi-use private seaport terminal in Brazil

Driving of the first set of concrete piles in September 2011 marked the beginning of work on the foundations for construction of the pier

The great demand for infrastructure to enable a new pace of economic growth for the country has generated an unprecedented number of construction works in Brazil, many of which are highly ambitious - whether on account of their size or of their goals. Such is the case of Embraport, which is expected to be the largest multiuse private seaport terminal in Brazil and whose fast-paced construction is underway on the left bank of the ‘Complexo Portuário de Santos’ (Santos Seaport Complex) in Santos (SP). Undertaking the work of construction is a consortium of companies made up of Odebrecht TransPort, DP World and the Coimex Group.  Odebrecht will be in charge of constructing the new terminal and managing the infrastructure. DP World will handle the development and operation of the terminal while the Coimex Group is expected to contribute to the project with its expertise in foreign trade and logistics.

The project, which is expected to cost an estimated R$2.91 billion (US$ 1.62 billion), began materializing in December 2010 and consists of two phases to be built on an area of 803 million square meters. Phase one includes the construction of 650 meters of quay (docks) and the service area, and is scheduled to be ready to go into operation in early 2013. In the second phase, the quay will be extended to 1,100m and ready to operate in 2015.

The terminal of the Empresa Brasileira de Terminais Portuários (Embraport - Brazilian Seaport Terminal Company) will be located on the left bank of the Port of Santos, next to the bulk liquid terminal on ‘Ilha Barnabé’ (Barnabé Island), between the Diana and Sandi rivers. Its location is privileged. Besides access by sea, the terminal can be accessed via the Cônego Domênico Rangoni Highway, better known as the ‘Rodovia Piaçaguera-Guaruja’, thus avoiding the traffic of trucks through the city of Santos. Another distinguishing feature is the MRS railway line that runs across the Terminal, facilitating the transportation of cargo to this type of modal.

When finally completed, the terminal will have 1,100m of docks and 250m of quay for liquid cargoes, a storage area of 60,000 square meters for containers and ethanol, as well as an annual handling capacity of two million TEUs (‘Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit, a unit equivalent to a 20 foot container) and two million cubic meters (2 billion liters) of ethanol.

The first of the concrete piles for Phase One of the project was driven and capped in September last year providing the foundation for the construction of the terminal’s wharf. Since then around 400 piles, with diameters ranging from 800mm to 900mm and about 50 meters long each, have been driven. In total, nearly 2,000 reinforced concrete piles are required.

The piles are manufactured at a nearby industrial plant and transported using special floating pontoons to the site on a journey that takes around 40 minutes. The concrete plant that feeds this production line has an installed capacity to produce up to eight truckloads of concrete per hour, running 24 hours a day. Some 165 cubic meters of concrete will be used in the pre-mold factory to produce the 2,000 piles, each weighing 45 tons. The pre-molded elements plant is also responsible for the production of the 7,500 pre-cast slabs that the project requires. Presently, 300 people work at the plant producing approximately six piles per day, but production is expected to increase to eight per day. The main challenge is to ensure that pile production keeps ahead of installation, thus avoiding delays to the overall construction work schedule.

To drive the piles, the construction company is three CG240 hydraulic hammers manufactured by BSP International Foundations and supplied to Odebrecht Infrastructure by HLT Equipamentos Especiais - BSP’s Brazilian distributor which is headquartered in São Paulo. Each hammer is crane suspended and powered by a BSP power pack equipped with a Cat C9 diesel engine developing 250kW.

To assist in the performance of planned maintenance and reduce breakdowns due to water or dust particles entering the hammers’ hydraulic circuits, ICMs (In-line Contamination Monitors) have been installed. The monitors automatically measure and display particulate contamination, moisture and temperature levels in the hydraulic systems and alert the maintenance team if levels should increase beyond the pre-set limit, thereby making the equipment even more reliable in the hostile environment.

These BSP hammers are designed for driving a variety of load-bearing piles, including steel tube piles, combi piles and reinforced concrete piles. The hammers can be operated from vertical piling-rig leaders or crane suspended and can drive piles with an ultimate load bearing capacity of over 28,000 kN. A significant feature is their versatility since the incremental drop-weights can be altered from the standard 16 ton drop weight to 14 tons or 12 tons, and increased to 18 ton or 20 ton drop-weights depending on the application’s requirements.

To speed up piling operations, the construction company has chosen to utilize a method that employs equipment known as a “cantitraveller”. With the use of the system, construction advances into the sea upon its own structure, supported by the piles that have already been driven, to drive the next set of piles, and so on successively. As the cantitraveller advances, structures that were pre-fabricated at the job site are placed upon metallic shoring, affording conformity to the slab of the bridge floor. The cantitraveller moves forward upon its own structure, supported on “beam rails”, to the next position to drive another row of piles. Up to eight piles are driven daily.

The cantitraveller installed at the site is a large steel platform mounted on wheels, capable of transporting a 275-ton lattice boom crane together with a CG240 piling hammer fitted with a 16-ton drop-weight. This massive piece of equipment can hold up to seven piles at a time while the hammer suspended by the crane drives each pile in turn.

Dredging and decontamination
Dredging and forming the embankment behind the quay were other important parts of the project. According to Odebrecht TransPort building the embankment was carried out successfully throughout last year and regarded as one of the greatest challenges due to adverse weather conditions and the type of terrain in the area.

During this part of the operation over 580,000 cubic meters of contaminated material was dredged alongside the proposed quay and pumped into large “geotextile” bags known as geotubes. As these ‘bags’ filled up, water was drained out through the pores of the bag. The drained material was sent to a treatment facility for decontamination, when required, and then transported back to the channel. As soon as the contaminated material was removed, a 16-meter dredging depth was executed using hopper equipment.

At the end of last year, according to Embraport, 35% of the project works had been completed. In addition, construction work was continually supplemented with measures to protect the environment, both within the construction and surrounding areas which include special care with the flora, fauna, water, and the air among other initiatives in the vicinity.

The Embraport Terminal is the first in the continental area of Santos and will generate 1,100 job opportunities during the operation. Presently, 772 people are already working on the project and 90% of these workers are residents of the region.

Av. Francisco Matarazzo, 404 Cj. 701/703 Água Branca - CEP 05001-000 São Paulo/SP

Telefone (11) 3662-4159

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