Most of the work to build new dock areas at the Port of
Anchorage as part of an expansion project could be undone because of improper
construction, the city and port officials say.
The deconstruction option was one of three possibilities
discussed by officials during a three-day session regarding the project.
The mid-December work session came weeks after a report
found that three of four new sections built at the port were not constructed
correctly, and due to shifting land, could fail during an earthquake.
The $2.2 million, 2,200-page sustainability study was
conducted by engineering firm CH2M Hill on behalf of the US Maritime
Administration (MARAD) and the US Army Corps of Engineers. It says the danger
comes mainly from a foundation system called Open Cell Sheet Pile, or OCSP,
where instead of building a traditional dock on piling, interlocking sheets of
steel are hammered into the sea floor to form U-shaped cells, which are then
backfilled with dirt and gravel.
Due to the problems, most construction of the project was
halted in 2010.
The Corps requested the study be conducted after it assumed
control of the Port of Anchorage expansion project from MARAD on May 31.
Officials from the port, Corps of Engineers and MARAD were
present during the study session. One option discussed over the course of the
three days was that two major port tenants, Horizon Lines and Totem Ocean
Trailer Express (TOTE), would remain at their current berths and that a new
deep water berth and a barge berth would be built after the damaged material
now there is removed.
Another option was the temporary movement of TOTE and
Horizon from their existing terminals while the old terminals are demolished
and rebuilt. A third, so-called hybrid option would be to replace two of the
existing terminals on the old dock and build a new deep-water berth.
The expansion, which has been in the works for more than a
decade, was originally estimated to cost $360 million, and was supposed to be
complete by 2011. Instead, cost estimates have jumped to more than $1 billion
and continue to climb. A completion date is at least a decade away, according
to port estimates.
