Paid Advertising

A Pile of News: March 2025

A briefing on news and information from the pile driving contractors, associated manufacturers,
construction suppliers and affiliated engineers who comprise PDCA

By Matt Bisbee, PDCA

Originally sent March. 3, 2025

Top of the Pile

• The PDCA train rolled down to San Antone...who was on it? The 2025 Annual Conference concluded Feb. 6 at the Marriott Hill Country Resort. Images in the following links show who was there, what happened and what you missed. Photo credits to perennial PDCA photographer Mark Skalny (below).

• Ace in the Hole  It all started on Feb. 4 when 72 golfers from the conference set out to enjoy 18 holes of golf. Many were met by challenges on the unforgiving course. Scenes from the annual PDCA golf tourney.
• Unwound  That night, conference-goers indulged in brisket, pulled pork and other Texas-styled chow. The western-themed Opening Reception welcomed folks with a bebida, a howdy, y'all, and country music classics from a local DJ.
• Cowboys Like Us may have been channeled after hearing the conference keynote speaker during the Opening Ceremony on Feb. 5. Retired Navy Seal LT Jason Redman told his incredible story about overcoming existential challenges he faced during wartime combat. A meet & greet & book signing followed.
• Write This Down Following an inspiring keynote speech, several more general and elective sessions offered attendees education and professional development courses from experts in a variety of disciplines.
• Easy Come, Easy Go  The full-capacity Exhibit Hall featured dozens of longtime PDCA exhibitors, and some first-timers. Attendees met with equipment and material suppliers, engineering and instrumentation experts, participating contractors and more. Breaks, a lunch and a reception all happened here.
• Honky Tonk Time Machine  the conference theme was History and Heritage are Foundational. A panel of industry veterans addressed the past, present and future of piling. An impressive timeline chronicling pile driving over centuries was on display near Registration. The PDCA Education & Technical Committees shaped the content and presentations. Read more.
• The Cowboy Rides Away  on Feb. 6, the Conference wrapped with an awards brunch. Winners of the 2024 Project of the Year were presented trophies. PDCA also awarded its standout volunteer contributors. It was farewell until we do it again 2026. (Thanks San Antonio resident George Strait for lending song titles.)

From the Association & Chapters

Mark your calendars:

• TODAY through April 4: 2025 Project of the Year Awards program entries due. Submit e-file with Land, Marine, Earth Retention, Associate/Engineering Affiliate, International projects completed by Dec. 31, 2024. Winners revealed in August.
• TODAY or at your next convenience: Join the new PDCA Florida Chapter.
• March 5: Northeast Chapter Professional Development Course, Howell, NJ, 8am4pm at George Harms Construction Co. Hear a case study on a NJDOT bridge project by a regional engineer and a Pile Dynamic Analysis by Alex Ryberg, P.E. of GRL Engineers.
• March 1012: DFDTA Testing & Analysis Seminar & Workshop, Orlando  In partnership with Pile Dynamics, Inc., this program is offered twice per year and features two days of classroom education and an optional proficiency test.
• April 4: Gulf Coast Chapter Golf Tournament, Carter Plantation Golf Course, Springfield, LA, 9am3pm. It's a scholarship fundraiser with prizes. Sponsorships available. A maximum of 36 teams are welcome.
• April 2426: Geoprofessional Business Assn., Savannah, GA, at the Westin Savannah Harbor Golf Resort and Spa. PDCA is a cooperating organization.
• Apr. 25: Pacific Coast Chapter Scholarship Shoot, Birds Landing, CA, 8am3pm. Support students pursuing engineering/construction careers. Lunch and prizes are included and sponsorships are available.

From the piledrivers.org blog:

• Networking in Norfolk Part Deux was the second such networking event for Coastal Virginia. Thanks to a host of sponsors, PDCA members and industry friends enjoyed the FREE event designed to build the organization in the region. See who was SPOTTED.
• Connecting the Lowcountry  In its first meeting of 2025, SC Chapter members met in Charleston to celebrate the success of January's Oyster Roast, hear a technical program from Junttan and break bread in quarterly tradition.

Congratulations, Marco Lessard, you are this month's winner! Send an email to marian@piledrivers.org before the end of February to claim your prize!

Paid Advertising

News from PDCA Companies

Acquisitions & expansions:

• Cajun Industries, LLC received a unique Facebook shout-out from Louisiana Gov. Landry, acknowledging the company's expansion in the Port of Iberia, where the contractor is opening a 65-acre yard for module assembly.
• NSI Contracting in New Hampshire is changing hands. Now-retired owner Andre Bissonnette announced the sale of the company to a longtime partner.
• Pile Dynamics, Inc. further expanded its corporate office facilities in Solon, OH. It opened a third building, measuring 9,000 square feet, in late 2024.
• Thomas & Hutton opens a new office in Statesboro, GA, furthering the Savannah-based engineering firm's reach into the Peach State.

Giving back:

• Veit hosted its annual fundraising fishing tournament last month in Minnesota. Veit on Ice raised money to support young people pursuing construction careers. Many PDCA members sponsored the event, including CZM-US Foundation Equipment, Hammer & Steel, Triad Metals and United Rentals.

Recognitions:

• Bowen brought its project managers to Indianapolis HQ for annual company training; former Indiana governor and current president at Purdue University Mitch Daniels addressed the gathering with a message about leadership.
• GROUP Contractors is among the PDCA members to earn designation as Top Performer in the construction industry. Cajun Industries, Mason Construction, Aggregate Technologies also made the list ranking the Gulf Coast region.
• Mason Construction won 2024 Business of the Year from the Greater Port Arthur Chamber of Commerce.
• Morris-Shea Bridge Company was honored with the highest safety award given to a constructor; the company shouts-out HSE director Shane Moore.
• Locke Solutions won Best in Precast for its work, in collaboration with McCarthy, on the Port of Beaumont, an already widely awarded project.

Anniversaries:

• JD Fields & Co. reaches 40 years as a leading steel piling supplier. Throughout four decades, it has diversified its product line, expanded services and delivered product for highly recognized infrastructure and building projects. From its home office in Houston, the steel supplier credits its people-first culture for its success.

Paid Advertising

People on the Move

Transitions:

• Isaac Thorpe is appointed to the project management/estimating team at C.J. Mahan Construction. Also new to the Grove City, OH, company are Ashwith Gurram and Rylea Sowell, both in quality control.
• Morgan Oyler named senior project engineer at MEB. The Chesapeake, VA-based professional started with the company in 2021 after an internship.
• Tim Curvers is named new director of sales at Bull Moose Tube.
• William Johnson gets promoted from service manager to education and training specialist at CZM-US Foundation Equipment in Ellabell, GA.
• Tom (TC) Heller is in his final month at Liebherr, leading up to his April 1 retirement, following 18 years with the equipment manufacturer as VP of sales.
• Tracey Turner, P.E., elevates to director Geotechnical, Testing & Inspections at ESP Associates, Inc. in Charleston, SC.
• Russell Nipper reaches 41 years at Southern Earth Sciences in Mobile! The firm's Tampa office names Eric Roberson, Santino Cook as new CMTs.

Recognitions:

• Derek Duhon from Baker GCI in Baton Rouge touts the consistency of driven piles in his remarks to ENR, which published an article featuring the senior project manager as a subject matter expert on pre-construction engineering.
• Peter Cianchette, VP at CIANBRO, was seated as a member of the board during its first 2025 meeting for the Maine State Chamber of Commerce.
• Martin D. Downs Jr., P.E., president at J. Fletcher Creamer & Son was part of a small group of adventurers to reach the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa. He credits co-climbers, proclaiming that it truly takes a team to reach the top.
• Fred Paup, chairman of the board at Manson Construction, appears in a published interview with MarineLink to discuss company success and growth.
• Miguel Arguelles, VP at McCarthy Building Companies, appears in Construction Superintendent magazine, where he makes the case for year-round internships, a role that started his career with the contractor.
• Jesse Meldrum from Ralph L. Wadsworth Construction in Salt Lake City has been named Construction Safety Professional of the Year by AGC.
• Mike Terrell of Scott Bridge Company chairs the scholarship committee for the Alabama Road Builders. He hosted winners of the 2025 award at his Opelika, AL, office. The Engineering Dept. Chair from Auburn University also attended.
• Clayton Signor, president of Texas Pile, announced the birth of his second son, Nico, born Jan. 21. Mom, Eleni, and brother Marco are excited to have the newborn home with the family in Austin.
• Allie Brady, Chris Sandburg and Lisa Reineccius, all from VEIT, are finalists for Top Women in Construction in Minnesota. John Hass, who is lean operations director, earns SRI industry award for leadership and safety.
• Erica Parker, business development director at JD Fields & Co. and PDCA Texas Chapter treasurer, married Paul Parker in December 2024.
• Roland Duran from Lodge Lumber Co. brought home the trophy and a ring after winning the People's Choice Award in a Houston chili cook-off.
• Leon Topalian, CEO at Nucor, appeared on CNBC to highlight a substantial increase in company safety practices.
• Daniel Larson, P.E., CEO of American Engineering Testing, Inc. in Minnesota, has won election as national chairman of ACEC.
• Katherine Dilawari, P.E., and Jesse Siegel, P.E., both from Haley & Aldrich, contribute to the geotechnical education of graduate level students at Harvard.
• Dr. Aaron Budge, an academic leader at Minnesota State University, shouts-out PDCA and a who's who of PDCA technical members, in a LinkedIn post saluting a mentor to many in the industry, the late Joe Caliendo.

In sympathy:

• Ian Hofmann, P.E., was a "kind, talented and remarkable man," according to his colleagues at CRW Engineering in Alaska. He was among the 10 lives tragically lost during the Feb. 6 Bering Air crash over Norton Sound. The electrical engineer was returning home after working on a public project.

Paid Advertising

On the Job

CIANBRO crews have been building a new seawall at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. See the "after" photos the contractor shared upon job completion.

Jordan Pile Driving is retained to drive tapered test piles made by The Loren Group; it starts March 26, kicking off a a comprehensive study on the Gadsden, AL, made, piling material spearheaded by sales engineer Jerry Hart. The Alabama DOT is among partners in the program scheduled to take place in Mobile on donated land.

Orion secures $143.5M in marine contracts for Q1 2025. Projects span the country from the Gulf to the Pacific Northwest. More details on the news release.

Power Engineering Construction reports it completed the USACE San Francisco Wharf Repair project, which involved installation of PSC piling through precision pile driving techniques, as well as construction of a timber pile fender system.

Russell Marine LLC has a crew driving steel piling from JD Fields & Co. with a hammer from GeoQuip, Inc. for a combi-wall at Berth 214 at the Port in Tampa.

SJ Hamill Construction sent a crew from Charleston, SC, to Jacksonville, FL, to install steel pipe from Fields with a company-owned ICE 33 hammer, at a fuel terminal.

Dawson Construction Plant is accrediting technicians who own, operate or deal their equipment. Interested parties obtain credentials through online and in-person training.

Schnabel Engineering is a key partner to NCDOT in the ongoing infrastructure rebuild in western North Carolina in the wake of Hurricane Helene. The firm reports completing geotechnical work to assist in building a new bridge over the Pigeon River.

Industry news:

• Gonzo Logistics shares a published preview of trends in the logistics industry for 2025. AI, sustainability, supply chain resilience contribute to its evolution.

Notes from the Field

The BMOC  Recalling his teammates and their success in early 1990s, ASCE concrete canoe competitions at Catholic University of America, GeoStructures, Inc. CEO Larry Moore takes to social media to promote the present day program at his alma mater.

Unsinkable  Was a goal for builders of the SS United States. After its 1951 completion as the largest ocean liner built in the U.S, it crossed the Atlantic at record speed. Last month, it left Philly and passed under the Delaware Memorial Bridge, where Richard Pierson Construction crews watched it sail for the last time. It's set to be sunk to become the world's largest artificial reef, off Mobile, AL. Preservationists asked the White House to save it, but haven't heard back as of this writing.

Fantastic Voyage  Coastal Virginia is a rich hub of driven pile activity. One project that involves numerous industry stakeholders is the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel Expansion. Dewberry is among the engineering firms helping transform the roadway between Hampton and Norfolk, over/under Chesapeake Bay from four to eight lanes. Visual info manager Dave Huh shares a driving tour of the evolving infrastructure.

Not your Grandpa's Route 66  As Illinois DOT strives for 110 mph high-speed rail between Chicago and St. Louis, an MKT Manufacturing V5 side clamp hammer was spotted at work on a track-line modification under a central Illinois bridge. It'll be a welcome option to the notorious Illinois highways.

It's March 3rd and you're one month away from a big deadline. The submission period for the 2025 PDCA Project of the Year Awards program CLOSES APRIL 4TH. Please send in your entries in an electronic file by close of business that day. If you need an e-file or have any questions, contact PDCA at matt@piledrivers.org.

We will sign-off with an important round of thanks, to you, our readers. But also to those who have already submitted their projects for awards consideration. To those who have renewed their PDCA dues for 2025. To those who attended and/or sponsored the Annual Conference. To those who attended and/or sponsored Networking in Norfolk - Part Deux. And to those who have embraced all the recent and upcoming Chapter activity. If you haven't yet joined and are interested, enrollment in the new Florida Chapter is now available. Click here. Until we meet again in April, have a great month.