A $7.3-million Magellan Trestle & Dolphins upgrade to the Delaware Marine Terminal at the Port of Wilmington nearly doubled the existing oil-tank capacity.
Cianbro Corp. of Baltimore received two contracts from Magellan Midstream Partners of Tulsa, Okla., for marine and mechanical construction of fuel unloading lines. The work began in June 2008 and was completed in January.
The company constructed a 1,000-ft, pile-supported pipe trestle to cross tidal mudflats from shoreline to the unloading dock and a pile-supported concrete-capped mooring dolphin for vessel berthing. It made additional dolphin repairs and installed all of the associated piping and mechanical systems to convey unloaded fuels from tanker vessels.
The civil work included landside clearing and grubbing followed by driving 79 pipes for trestle bents and 18 pipe piles for the dolphins. The trestle pile was 16-in. diameter driven an average of 91 ft, while the dolphin piles were 18-in. diameter driven an average of 154 ft.
Most of the pipe fabrications and structural preassemblies were performed at Cianbros facility in Baltimore and barge-shipped to the project site. Prefabricating eliminated 50% of the welding that would have otherwise occurred in a field marine environment where access and safety posed additional hazards, and quality would be harder to control. This also reduced 50% of hours that would have been required on preassembly work, thus saving both money and time on a fast-paced project.
Owner: Magellan Terminals Holding, Tulsa, Okla.
Architect/Engineer: Whitney, Bailey, Cox & Magnani, Baltimore
Contractor: Cianbro Corp., Baltimore
Steel Fabrications: Cianbro Fabrication & Coating Facility, Baltimore
The preassembly methods, including the design and use of a floating dock system for access to the pile-cap work area, as well as extensive land-side walkways, gratings and handrails, were employed to an even greater degree in executing the mechanical portion of the work, which consists of more than 8,000 ft of fuel piping ranging from 20-in. gasoline lines to 4-in. sump and natural gas lines. Preassembly allowed the mechanical to take place concurrently with the civil work but without any conflicts over staging areas and access to floating equipment.
Cianbro’s scope of work also included fabrication and installation of all of the trestle and dolphin steel. The company completed the oil-storage facility project on time and with 37,462 safe hours.
