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Composites upgrade
marine infrastructure
Hurricane-durable docks
When the city of Jacksonville, FL, US, needed to
create new marine infrastructure just upriver of the
Pilots Pier near the mouth of the St. Johns River,
Jacksonville-based Register Marine capitalized on
previous dock-building experience to build these
new fixed and floating docks for the Jacksonville
Fire & Rescue Department (JFRD) Station 40 facility.
Source | Auld & White / Photo | AeroPhoto
All-composite docks best concrete in cost and time and aim toward
future fastener-less construction for greater savings and sustainability.
By Ginger Gardiner / Senior Editor
» In 2007, the St. Johns River Bar Pilots, who ensure the safe navigation
of ships in transit between open seawater and the Port of
Jacksonville, FL, US, needed to replace the T-head for the pier used
to dock its two 22m-long pilot vessels. Licensed by the US Coast
Guard and the State of Florida, the St. Johns Pilots assist local,
state and federal authorities with seaport development and port
security.
The crumbling concrete structure that had formed the T-head
for 26 years actually collapsed into the river while final details for
its replacement were still under discussion. At that time, the Pilots
chose an all-composite system for the new dock. Designed and
installed by Register Marine (Jacksonville, FL, US), it included glass
fiber-reinforced composite pilings, structural frames and deck,
all joined with methyl methacrylate adhesive as well as stainless
steel bolts and fasteners. The new composite dock was designed
to withstand 74-95 mph winds, per Category 1 hurricane requirements,
as well as to provide enough energy absorption to prevent
damage to the pier structure as the pilot vessels dock.
So it was that at the end of 2011, when the city of Jacksonville
needed to create new marine infrastructure just upriver of the
Pilots Pier near the mouth of the St. Johns River, that earlier experience
helped Register Marine offer a solution to a much more
demanding dock design.
Category 3 capability
Through the Jacksonville Port Authority, the city had federal
funding via a Homeland Security grant to build a new facility that
could survive a Category 3 hurricane and then offer immediate
response as the storm receded. The result, Jacksonville Fire &
Rescue Department (JFRD) Station 40, had been built not only
62 SEPTEMBER 2015
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