Job Reports > Impact Hammers > Jervoise Bay

Australian Marine Complex
Jervoise Bay
Western Australia
Wharf Construction

The Western Australian and Federal Governments funded construction of the Fabrication Precinct at the Australian Marine Complex. The fabrication precinct now allows Western Australia to service the global trend for modular fabrication, assembly and load-out of pre-assembled units required by the oil & gas, marine and mineral sectors.

A joint venture between Transfield and Macmahon Contractors was awarded the $53 million contract for civil and marine works that called for, amongst other things, two wharves to be built. The first wharf is designed to handle the 3,000 tonne load-out requirement whereas the other is a 60 meter long 15,000 tonne heavy lift wharf. In total the wharf area is able to accommodate a 300 metre long vessel.

Steelcom provided the venture with a BSP HH14, 14 tonne ram weight piling-hammer for wharf construction. The BSP piling-hammer was hired to the consortium to drive steel tubes up to 46 metres in length and up to 1 metre in diameter. In total about 5000 tonnes of steel were driven 40 meters into the seabed.

Transfield / Macmahon suspended the piling-hammer from a 200 tonne crane with multi-gated piling frame to penetrate a layer of calcarenite (compact limestone) beneath the sand floor and into lower sandstone layers. Each tube is designed to withstand a force of 1050 tonne.