Saint Lucia - John Compton Dam Rehabilitation Project JCD02: Construction Management & Supervision for Dredging of Reservoir and Transportation of Sediment 

• BEHI Scope: Dredging Specialist Subconsultant

• Client/Owner: WASCO (St. Lucia Water & Sewage Company)

• Owner’s Engineer: Theobalds Consulting Limited (TCL), St. Lucia

• Project Funding: Caribbean Development Bank.

• Dredging Contractor: VINCI Construction Maritime et Fluvial

The project included approx. 1,261m long (500 mm OD) HDPE on-shore pipeline for sediment transport from the John Compton Dam Reservoir to the Sediment Deposition Area (SDA), sediment containment dyke to contain approx. 100,000 cubic metres of dredged sediments, and approx 400 m offshore HDPE pipeline fitted with flexible houses and floats connecting the Cutter-Suction Dredger to the onshore pipelines. The project scope included pressure testing and commissioning of pipelines, dredging of approx. 85,000 cubic metres of sediment from selected areas within the JCD Reservoir, pumping the reservoir sediments slurry into the SDA, and spigotting the sediments into the deposition area within the SDA. Dredging was carried out by the La Baule Cutter-Suction Dredger (shown in the picture). Bathymetric surveys were also conducted before, during and after dredging. Dredging operation was successfully completed in March 2021.

Guyana  – Supporting Indigenous Consultation and Environmental Assessment and Monitoring in Guyana’s NEW Offshore Oil & Gas Sector.

Guyana is at the cusp of a major oil and gas development boom, which will have significant impacts on its economic outlook for many years to come.  The objective of this assignment was to provide technical assistance and capacity building consultancy service to the Government of Guyana’s lead departments responsible for the O&G sector offshore Guyana, including the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The study outcome included two action plans for the new sector: Part 1 - Guidance for Environmental Assessment and Monitoring Improvement Plan; and Part 2 - Guidance for Indigenous Consultation Plan.

THE BAHAMAS - ADVISORY PEER REVIEW of Cape EleutHera Resort & Marina Coastal Engineering Analysis.

BEHI was retained by the Caribbean Coastal Services Limited (CCS) of Nassau, Bahamas, to provide Technical Advisory Peer Review of Cape Eleuthera Resort & Marina Costal Project on the Island of Eleuthera.

Significant beach erosion and sand deposition into the marina, particularly at the entrance and berthing areas inside the marina, as well as damage to the groins at the marina’s entrance, caused by hurricane Matthew (2016) and other high waves and storm surge events.  The objective of our study was to:

• Reduce beach erosion (littoral drift due wave action at the Sunset Beach) and create a stable, safe and enjoyable beach experience for the resort guests.

• Provide solutions to the sand accretion at the entrance of the marina (dredging the super yacht berth on the southern side).

• Shore protection by means of groin/breakwater at the north & south side of marina entrance, and the seawall at the western shore of Powell Point.

• Beach Nourishment (e.g., sand dunes and/or coastal/offshore breakwater).

Climate Change Risk Assessment, Mitigation and Adaptation – Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) and Climate Resilient Coastal Infrastructure

The Caribbean Region Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are the most vulnerable and most seriously affected by climate change and its impacts on sea level rise, storm surge and flooding (IPCC 2014), which would severely impact coastal waters, coastal ecosystems (mangroves, coral reefs, sea grass), erosion and damage to infrastructure (ports, harbours, coastal roads, bridges and buildings, beaches and coastal defences), and communities and livelihood that are likely to be at high risk to climate change and variability.

For example the most recent category 5 hurricane Maria (Sep. 2017), which caused catastrophic damage to the island of Dominica (picture top left: Village of Scott’s Head the morning after Maria); and hurricane Dorian, Sep. 2019, (bottom left image of hurricane peak wave field on the Islands of Grand Bahamas and Abaco), which left the Island of Abaco and Grand Bahamas in ruins and extended its devastation to the eastern seaboard of USA and Canada.

BEHI has been active in the Caribbean Region over the past five years with extensive experience in the related fields (coastal engineering, coastal process, coastal infrastructure and protection, numerical modelling of waves, hydrodynamics, currents, storm surge, sediment transport and shoreline dynamics, wave agitation studies, and water quality and oil spill trajectory prediction, etc.).

Montserrat – Little Bay Port Development Project, Specialist Port Engineering Advisory Appraisal

The objective of the service was to provide technical advice on the future port development at Little Bay including identifying appropriate scope of work for Government of Montserrat’s submission for funding from DFID and suggest a cost effective solution that fit the available funding constraints. Various port concepts had previously been developed however the capital costs prevented development. Using the previous studies as a baseline several new port layouts were developed that aligned with the available funding and provided an effective solution to the ongoing use restrictions at the existing port facility.

St. Vincent and Grenadines Port Modernization and Development Project in Kingstown – Specialist Technical Advisory Service

Project includes review of various design options for a new port facility in Kingstown that will be design climate change resilient infrastructure and preparation of the TOR for Engineering Consultancy for Design-Build form of contract.

Integrated Coastal Zone Management Needs Assessment AND Data Collection Protocol

The project is part of the Investment Plan for the Caribbean Regional Track of the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR) project funded by a grant from IDB. This study covers six (6) Caribbean nations who are highly vulnerable to climate change: Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and Grenadines.

Alumina Partners of Jamaica (ALPART) Expansion Study – Marine Terminal Component

Feasibility Study was carried out to review port capacity to handle the propose increase of Alumina production from 1.65 to 1.95 million tpa and provide recommended pier expansion and associated materials handling facilities at Port Kaiser. Also design and construction management of pier and causeway damage repairs from Hurricane Ivan.

Trinidad Aluminum Smelter - Port Development, Trinidad

A Bankable Feasibility Study, including development of conceptual engineering and a capital cost estimate for a 410,000 mt/year aluminum smelter and 350 MW power plant and associated marine facilities in Trinidad.  It included a port development to handle up to 45,000 DWT ships, dredging of the navigation channel and turning basin, a dock for bulk carriers and material handling capacity of 1.5 million tonnes/year.  Estimated capital cost US $1.8 Billion, with the port and marine component: US $55 M.

 Monaco Sea Urbanization, Monaco

As a member of a world-leading consortium of engineering and real estate developers, this project was funded by the Qatari real estate developer Barwa. Our scope as the engineering designers was to prepare a design concept development for an €8 billion marine facilities project in the Principality of Monaco. Our mandate included: two major breakwaters, inner harbour development, gravity base structures supporting a fixed road link, and breakwater to support the proposed urban expansion of Monaco into the Mediterranean Sea.

Vietnam - Feasibility Study for Improvement the Bassac River Navigation

Bassac Rive a major international maritime route in the Mekong Delta for ports of Can Tho, My Thoi and a link to the Port of Phnom Penh in Cambodia. At present, the extensive shallow water and constantly-shifting shoals, and the ever-changing navigable channel routes at the mouth of the river have posed major navigation obstacles that hamper access to the port of Can Tho and other upriver ports by vessels greater than 3,000 DWT. The project main objective is to provide a long-term sustainable solution to the navigation problems at the entrance of the Bassac River (Song Hau). The specific objective of this Feasibility Study is to identify the most economically, technically, socially and environmentally viable and effective way to improve navigation of the Bassac River by opening the entrance channel to Can Tho for larger vessels up to fully loaded 10,000 DWT.

Port of Pulupandan Capital Project Preliminary Study, Philippines

The goal of this study was to determine the technical and financial feasibility of re-developing the Port of Pulupandan, Negros Occidental in the Philippines. The port is heavily silted and requires extensive annual dredging. To address the siltation problem, the following numerical models were developed:

• Regional and local hydrodynamic model development and baseline data collection;

• Wave refraction model to provide the wave induced current contribution to sediment transport; and

• Sediment transport model to quantify the sediment transport rate and indicate the accretion / erosion patterns associated with three possible development schemes.

ONE15 BROOKLYN BRIDGE PARK MARINA PROJECT - Independent Wave Modeling Stud, BROOKLYN, NY, USA

BEHI was contracted by SULT-ONE15 Brooklyn Marina to undertake an independent wave agitation modelling study at the Brooklyn Bridge Park Marina, New York, USA. The study was to assess the effectiveness of the current and proposed wave attenuators (i.e., floating breakwaters) and the marina layout configurations. The marina is designed to accommodate boats from 16-ft to 250-ft long.  The current wave attenuation system does not provide the required “calm” water that meet the required marina operating design criteria. A number of floating breakwaters design alternatives and marina layout reconfigurations were assessed using DHI’s MIKE21 Boussiesq Wave Model and the recommended design was presented.

Nalcor Energy Oil & Gas – Metocean Climate Study Offshore Newfoundland and Labrador, CANADA

This Meteorological and Oceanographic (MetOcean) study was carried out as part of Nalcor Energy Exploration Strategy to develop the most complete and comprehensive metocean database and geographic information system called (NESS) for the offshore Newfoundland and Labrador area extending from 39.5o to 63o N Latitude and 42o to 65o W Longitude, with a total of 575 grid cells (an area of over 2.2 million square kilometres. The database covered bathymetry, wind, wave, current, visibility, icing, pack ice, icebergs, and sea surface temperature. To facilitate easy access of this vast data, a web-based, interactive DBM/GIS NESS was developed.  The database covers Labrador Sea, Flemish Pass, Flemish Cap, the entire Grand Banks, Southern Shore and West Coast of Newfoundland.

Baseline Study for Coastal Zone Planning and Management in North Sulawesi, Indonesia

This pilot study was carried out for a 100 km stretch of vulnerable coastline in North Sulawesi, Indonesia. The purpose of this study was to provide an integrated approach to coastal zone planning and management to be used as a basis for preparing the concept of a local government decree for future coastal development, protection, planning and management projects; and training local government staff in these areas so that they can be effective in promoting and enforcing this concept at higher levels of government. It included: meteorological and oceanographic data collection; bathymetric and aerial photographic surveys; marine resources and coastal structures inventory; land use, environmental &socio-economic impacts & environmental database management system; regulatory framework and development of guidelines for coastal conservation zone; and training and institutional building.

NLRC Refinery Project – Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

This complete Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Socio-Economic Impact Assessment was carried out for the Newfoundland and Labrador Refining Corporation (NLRC) at the head of Placentia Bay, Newfoundland. It included a full provincial EIS and Federal Comprehensive Study Report for a proposed green-field 300,000 bbl/day heavy crude oil refinery. The EIA’s were carried out as required by the provincial and federal Environmental Assessments processes. The project involved conceptual engineering design, fieldwork, research and preparation of EIA, environmental protection plan, oil spill emergency response plan, and construction permits.

Sable Offshore Energy Project (SOEP) - Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

This project included a full Environmental Impact Assessment and Socio-Economic Impact Assessment of this very important project near Sable Island offshore Nova Scotia, Canada. The project involved the development and operation of six production and gathering platforms off the east coast of Nova Scotia, the transportation of the natural gas by subsea pipeline to landfall, the development of a gas plant in the vicinity of Goldboro, and the development of a pipeline from the plant to transport natural gas liquids to a treatment facility at Point Tupper.  In addition it included 550 km land pipeline to transport the product to the state of Maine & Boston, USA.

Rio Tinto Simandou Iron Ore Project, Guinea, West Africa

This Feasibility Study included development of an Iron Ore mine at the west side of Guinea, approx. 730 km of railway, a deep seaport at Yelitono on the Melacoree River estuary on the Atlantic Ocean, and associated infrastructures. The port is designed to accommodate large bulk carriers up to 250,000 DWT, with total Iron Ore export capacity of 70 MTPA, expandable to 250 MTPA.  The mandate includes service wharves; ore export wharves to accommodate cape class bulk carriers; significant dredging (60 Mm3); large stockyard and associated materials handling system and infrastructures. A large field program was carried out including bathymetry, sidescan sonar and sub-bottom seismic profiling, geotechnical investigations and met-ocean measurements, and computer modelling of currents, waves, and sediment transport.

Hambantota Deep Sea Port, Sri Lanka

This Feasibility Study was carried out for a US$1.48 billion major container transhipment port in the southern region of Sri Lanka.  This hub port is also envisaged to be a gateway to the Indian sub-continent.  The study included transportation cargo forecast, economic evaluation, site selection, conceptual design, construction capital cost estimation, evaluation of the project viability in respect to technical, environmental, social, economical and financial aspects. A public / private participation (BOT) financial model was considered.

Alpart, Jamaica, Port Kaiser Pier Repair

On Sept 11, 2004 Hurricane Ivan passed approx.. 30 miles south of Port Kaiser on the south coast of Jamaica. The storm generated extreme waves and storm surge, which washed away most of the causeway and caused significant damage to the main pier at Port Kaiser. Scope of work was to evaluate the damage, calculate design waves, design and construction of a new causeway using dolos concrete blocks for shore protection, design and rebuild the bridge to the pier, project management and construction supervision. This unique project has major construction challenges placing 12 t dolos under existing pier structure.  The work was executed on time and within budget.