A Pile of News: August 2021
A briefing on news and information from the pile driving contractors, associated manufacturers, construction suppliers and affiliated engineers that comprise the PDCA
by Matt Bisbee, PDCA
Originally sent Aug. 2, 2021
From the Association & Chapters
Industry Events:
  • Important, FREE event TOMORROW: The 2021 PDCA Education Webinar Series #5 entitled Pile Driving Vibrations – Monitoring and Analysis by subject matter expert Cathy Aimone-Martin is available to the entire piling industry at no cost. Don’t miss this important PDCA program that will enhance quality, safety and responsibility on your pile driving projects.



Chapter and Regional Events:

Watch your mailboxes in August!
The 2021 PDCA Project of the Year Program winners will be revealed in the next PileDriver magazine, circulating in digital/print format later this month. Access your copy and read in-depth about the projects that moved our judge’s panel. Hint, hint – it’s not too early to start thinking about your submissions for the 2022 program; entry is free for PDCA members!
GeoQuip Inc., you are this month’s winner!
Send an email to marian@piledrivers.org before the end of August to claim your prize!
News from PDCA Companies
Acquisitions & Expansions:

On the Job:
Baker GCI completes a 10,000 pile installation for Diamond Green Diesel in Port Arthur, TX, then breaks for lunch before embarking on subsequent project phases – congrats guys!

Cajun Industries delivers on two Mississippi contracts awarded in 2020: crews drove 550 linear feet of steel sheet pile at NASA’s rocket testing facility in Hancock County. Then at Enviva’s operations at the Port of Pascagoula, they put in 450 linear feet of steel sheets.

Clark and McCarthy, through a JV, complete the 1.1 million square foot William Beaumont Army Medical Center for the U.S. DOD to serve the Fort Bliss, TX military community.

Corman Kokosing uses a GeoQuip vibro to extract 30” x 160’ pipes from waters off Weems, VA.

Manson completes the Pier 8 replacement at Naval Base San Diego. The USS John P. Murtha became the first ship to berth at the pier during a ceremony involving construction teams and Navy brass.

McMullen & Pitz Construction fired up their MKT D30 from Mississippi Valley Equipment to drive 300 H-pile from Triad Metals under careful consultation from American Engineering Testing; the new foundation will facilitate a private shipyard expansion in Sturgeon Bay, WI.

Palmetto Pile Driving is in Huger, SC installing its PSC pile which contains Essve Tech tubing. The contractor is using an ICE, Inc. hydraulic hammer, and ECS Limited is providing geotechnical and CMT services for the project. The work is expanding Kloeckner Corporation’s local branch.

Parker Marine will soon drive pile on the campus of The Citadel for the Capers Hall replacement project; Soil Consultants, Inc. provides deep foundations analyses.

PRECO-MSE installed the pilings for the new Lac-Des-Fees condo complex outside Montreal.

R. Kremer & Son Marine Contractors works on deadlines, perhaps none stricter than those imposed by a bride-to-be’s mother. Their crews drove 10/35 foot, timber piles, then added framing and decking to finish a Point Pleasant, N.J. dock in time for a July wedding.

R.L. Wadsworth Construction adds wildlife crossings, other attributes to southwest Colorado’s Highway 160, part of an $11.3M public initiative designed to reduce automobile-wildlife collisions.

The Great Lakes Construction Company is finishing a bridge rehabilitation in Warren County, Ohio, a $7.3M ODOT project on U.S. 22/Ohio 3 northeast of Cincinnati. 

DuroTerra helps grow e-commerce sector as a supplier in new construction of distribution facilities; a 2021 ENR “Outlook” says warehousing is surging to accommodate needs of web-based retailers.

ECA shows the Pile Master 36-3000 air hammering sheets for the South Coast Rail Project, an MBTA initiative designed to bring back one-seat commuter rail between Boston and southeastern Massachusetts.

Giken’s team appears on the Long Island job site for new sheet pile installation at the Gowanus Canal. 

ICE, Inc. equipment is spotted driving steel sheets for a pump station improvement in Warren, OH.

L.B. Foster wins $7M materials subcontract for new lock at USACE complex Sault Ste. Marie, MI.

Junttan sends a PM16 to DC to drive 60’ piles for the new Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge; the bridge is expected to open in late ’21 to an estimated 75K+ daily travelers between Maryland the Capitol City.

GeoEngineers participated in Nashville discussion on mitigating earthquake risks. Tennessee-DOT, local consultants attended. The New Madrid Seismic Zone impacts Music City and much of the Midwest.

Governmental Relations:
  • Massman Construction and team broke ground for Kansas City’s new Buck O’Neil Bridge; spotted were Gov. Michael Parson, Sen. Roy Blunt, Rep. Sam Graves, K.C. Mayor Quinton Lucas
  • ECS Limited staff in N.C. office, with Matthew Fogleman’s leadership, participate in a first industry legislative event for the Asheville region

Recognitions:

Giving Back:

Anniversaries:
Eustis Engineering is celebrating 75 years in business, congratulations! The New Orleans-based engineer is the third oldest, continually operating geotechnical firm in the U.S. 
  • Of note, Polly Eustis turned 103 last month. Wife of the firm’s late founder, J. Bres Eustis, Polly continues to be the supportive presence for the firm that she has been since day one
People on the Move
Transitions:
  • Stefanie Becker elevated to VP of integrated design + deliver at McCarthy in San Francisco
  • Troy Theriot, named president of Patriot Construction & Industrial Marine Group
  • Jordana Paier, Michael Nibert join ECS Limited-Texas, Alex Wills joins the firm in Asheville, NC while Michael Goldman is new to operations in Southeast
  • Patrick Thurmond, P.E., Lars Erickson, P.E., James Williams, P.E. promoted at Eustis Engineering
  • Bill Chambers named Senior Engineer, to staff new Hawaii office for GRL Engineers
  • Jill Guthrie is new staff geophysicist in Chattanooga offices of S&ME, Inc.

Recognitions:

Congratulations:
  • Ahhhh (Part 1) – Jill Harris, publisher of PileDriver magazine welcomed Baby Sam into the world on July 13 (pic). You might recall in March, we noted that an “influential pile driving industry professional” was expecting in July. Congratulations to Jill, dad and big brother!!!
  • Ahhhh (Part 2) – Construction demands long hours of field and office teams. A social media post for his 20th wedding anniversary, Roly Acosta of Caldwell Marine salutes his wife’s critical support; a good reminder spouses/significant others provide an important foundation.
Notes from the Field
Conspiracy theories run rampant these days, so…– we direct your attention to a strange coincidence. Through online time stamping, we note that Mike Wysockey and a group from Thatcher Foundations attended a Chicago Cubs home game on July 28. Not 24 hours later, the Loveable Losers (a Cubs nickname) trade team living legend Anthony Rizzo to the Yankees. What did the Indiana interlopers do?

Because football ramps up in August – We thought you should know that standout, freshman running back Paul Reynolds from the 1951 Notre Dame football team (an eventual NFL draftee), accumulated an impressive 539 all-purpose yards. He later became a silent partner in PND Engineers’ 1979 founding.

Suns out, guns out – In an awkward and heavy lift, Foundation Constructors found the “smarts” and the “muscles” to complete a piling job that enabled fortification of a massive storage tank for an energy sector client. The team literally moved the existing tank to complete the pile driving. 

Is it the S.S. Minnow? – Poseidon Dredge & Marine performed mangrove rehabilitation on Florida’s east coast, and salvaged an abandoned boat in the process. Perhaps “Ginger,” the only living cast member from Gilligan’s Island, could give it a positive ID?

It was like a “Touch a Truck” event – but kids weren’t invited. Manson hosted its corporate staff in Seattle to “tour” SCANDIA, their premier pile driving rig in the region. It garnered great participation, but we hope someone sends us the photo of Tax Manager Craig Leonard playing operator in cab.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T to all the crane operators out there. Tadano circulates dramatic imagery of the Demag AC 160-5 atop a concrete dam in the mountains of Switzerland.

Move over Vader and Rocky – PDCA Membership Committee chair Rich Anderson along with Northeast Chapter secretary Steve Sigmund, apparently constitute “full force” for ECA in Philly; now you know!

Step aside Mickey – Disney owns Marvel Comics, but legally can’t yet use its products at Disney parks; but a PDCA member did what the entertainment giant couldn’t do and brought Captain America to Orlando. Joey Holmes of GeoQuip dekked out a PileCo D100 like the Marvel good guy.
Media Hits!
Construction Equipment Guide quotes George Harms of leading New Jersey contractor George Harms Construction Company in a story recognizing the 50-year career of his valued supplier and friend.

Piling Canada carries a fascinating story on what Toronto’s Mayor John Tory calls “one of the largest waterfront revitalization projects in the world,” and “most significant infrastructure project in Toronto’s history.” Read about the innovative work that Keller performs in the Canadian city.

Nebraska Today (UNL) covers groundbreaking for a new hall for engineering Huskers. Privately funded Kiewit Hall is part of a $97M expansion of the College of Engineering at the University of Nebraska.

Peninsula Daily News notes Legacy Contracting’s role in a massive dredging project at Coastal Washington’s Port Angeles Terminal 3 pier.

KTVI FOX 2 shows construction footage of a McCarthy joint venture on National Geospatial Intelligence Agency near St. Louis. Also, Playmakers Talk Show hosts company Pres. Joe Jouvenal.

Offshore Energy News writes on an innovation by a Dutch tidal energy company; the story includes prominent photography of apparatus with a PVE Equipment hammer in full display.

The Geotechnical Engineering Podcast airs an insightful discussion with Dr. Kathryn Petek of Shannon & Wilson about Large Diameter Foundations.

i4 Business Magazine has a cover story on the “explosive growth” of Universal Engineering Sciences, reportedly the fastest growing U.S. firm. [Editor’s note – each month in the Acquisitions & Expansions section of this publication, we list at least one new “pick-up” by UES, this month there are two.] 

Plenty of big headlines these days; a pending switch to the SEC for Texas and Oklahoma, ongoing Infrastructure negotiations on Capitol Hill, the McCormick seasonings recall, the #FreeBritney movement, and all things COVID among them. But we defer you to other news sources for complete coverage. Safe driving in August, we’ll send you another Pile on Sept. 7!
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