King’s Wharf Extension
LOCATION: Bermuda
CLIENT: Bermuda Land Management Corporation
TIMEFRAME: 2025-2027 (estimated)
KEY PERSONNEL: Greg MacDonald, Stephen O’Brien, Alec MacDonald, Riley Guest, Brett Arsenault
Project Description
King’s Wharf is one of Bermuda’s two cruise ship terminals. The wharf, which consists of a 90m long piled marginal wharf structure and two berthing dolphins, was constructed in ±1986.
In 2019 a major rehabilitation was completed on the superstructure of the marginal wharf. The current project involves demolishing the existing berthing dolphins and the construction of 2-36m extensions to the north and south of the existing structure. These extensions provide essential deck space for landing passengers from some of the world’s largest cruise ships.
The cruise season is of vital importance to Bermuda’s economy, which limits construction to the off-season, forcing this project to be completed over two short construction seasons. With that in mind, Harbourside has taken every opportunity to accelerate construction efforts.
The new structure consists of a predominantly precast concrete superstructure founded on plumb steel pipe piles. Since the structure is replacing the existing berthing dolphins, large berthing and mooring forces must be resisted by the new structures. Harbourside Engineering completed a comprehensive review of historical documents, completed a berthing and mooring analysis, as well as design of corrosion protection systems. Following detailed structural design, Harbourside developed the tender documents, assisted with tender review/evaluation and implementation of a construction contract.
Harbourside Engineering is currently administering the contract and overseeing construction.
Harbourside’s Role
Harbourside’s role pre-dates this project with involvement as structural and marine engineering specialists hired to solve existing pile design challenges and fender performance issues. The high quality of this work contributed to Harbourside being awarded the design of the new extensions.
Harbourside was responsible for the structural, marine, and geotechnical design of the new structures, as well as the development of tender and construction documents. The marine design included a berthing and mooring analysis to size new bollards and fenders. Harbourside also provided support during tender, including review and evaluation of submissions, and preparation of a construction contract.
Unique Challenges
Although there is warmth and beauty in Bermuda, there are also challenges to working on the island. Not least of which is the fact that Bermuda is indeed an archipelago in the Atlantic! This puts a hard limitation on the availability of construction equipment and materials, due to remoteness of the location. The island itself on which the King’s Wharf is situated also has some technically challenging geotechnical conditions for both lateral and vertical pile resistance.
In addition, the construction windows for this project are quite narrow. As the cruise ship season extends from April to mid-November, most of the construction must be done between December and March so as to avoid schedule disruption.
All together, this puts a heavy focus on constructability to work within the constraints of the project. Harbourside has had to adapt design and phasing during tender and construction in order to overcome unforeseen delays and operational challenges. As of writing, any potential delays to the cruise ship season have been mitigated splendidly.
Social Impact
The cruise industry is of vital importance to the Bermudian economy. The two berths are in near constant use from early April to mid-November of each year. The cost/loss of revenue of cancelled cruise visits are astronomical, adding to the pressure of delivering and executing a construction contract to our best ability to ensure the cruise season is unaffected by the work.