Project Location:Port of Balboa, Panamá
Client: Hutchison Port Holdings, Limited - Panama Ports Company, S.A.
Dates: August 2002 - November 2002

The Balboa Phase 3 Quay and Dredging Contract was a design-and-construct contract for approximately 270 meters of container quay and berth and approach dredging works. The original contract assumed areas of soil reclamation in the back side of the quay along with a rock-bund wall. A late design modification eliminated required areas of soil reclamation and associated bund wall.

A preliminary structural layout was submitted by the Contractor, Hong Kong Dredging, Limited (HKD), for initial pricing purposes. The Employer, Panama Ports Company, S.A. (PPC), a subsidiary of Hutchison Port Holdings, Limited (HPH) and with agreements of HKD, contracted Lymon C. Reese & Associates (LCR&A) to perform a general design review that included evaluations of other design alternatives. The intention of the project was to obtain construction savings in direct costs and/or completion time, while not risking the integrity of the finished product.

A general report addressed initial investigations, soil studies, previous projects in similar soils, observations on design requirements and criteria, proposed fenders, connections to existing structure, models for berthing and operating loads, and models for soil-structure interaction. A separate report addressed the results from three-dimensional dynamic models that were used to evaluate seismic and operating loading (including wind) in extreme quay configurations.