A Pile of News - September 2021

A Pile of News:
September 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 Sept. 1, 2021
From the Association & Chapters
Several PDCA Members have been impacted by Hurricane Ida. PDCA extends its gratitude to those in the region who are assisting in storm mitigation and clean-up efforts. Also, PDCA offers the best in recovery to those businesses who have sustained equipment and/or property damages. And we send our deepest condolences to the families in the region who have lost a loved one.

Industry Events
Act now - September 15 is the deadline to update your entry in The 2022 PDCA Membership Directory.

A soiree in South Texas it's nothing fancy, but join us for the PDCA 2021 Houston Social on September 23 from 5:30 7:30 PM CDT at True Anomaly Brewing in Houston, TX. The event is open to the regional pile driving industry (non-PDCA members welcome); REGISTER TODAY for this free happy hour and informational event. Sponsorships are requested and space is limited.

Coming October 5, the PDCA 2021 Education Webinar Series continues. Join us for Vibratory Pile Driving: An Installation Method with a Large Impact, from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM EDT, Gerald Verbeek, presenting. The virtual event is FREE to PDCA members, $100 for others.

Chapter and Regional Events
  • PDCA Northeast Chapter to host the TopGolf Meet & Greet on October 6 from 6-9 PM (EDT) in Edison, NJ. Register today.
  • PDCA of South Carolina hosted a dinner and program, SCDOT Low Country Projects of Interest, in August in Charleston. Next, the Chapter will award the Nigels Scholarship on November 11.
  • The Gulf Coast Chapter of PDCA gathered at L'Auberge Casino Hotel in Baton Rouge in August for a quarterly meeting. PHOTOS. Next dinner meeting is November 18 in Kenner.
  • PDCA hosted a luncheon in the Northeast Florida region in St. Augustine. It featured Contractor Wayne Waters of EWS Consulting, PDCA President Kevin Gourgues and PDCA Board Member Buck Darling sharing industry perspectives. PHOTOS. Additionally, PDCA visited member offices in South and Central Florida, and attended the FTBA Conference to support mutual members.

Congrats winners of The 2021 PDCA Project of the Year Awards as revealed in the latest PileDriver magazine; read in depth on each construction feat. Here's is the CliffsNotes version of winners:
  • Land: Less than $5 Million Ralph L. Wadsworth
  • Land: Greater than $5 Million AND Marine: Less than $5 Million Foundation Constructors, Inc.
  • Marine: Greater than $5 Million Pacific Pile & Marine
  • Earth Retention: Richard Goettle, Inc.
  • Associate/Engineering Affiliate Category: ICE-International Construction Equipment, Inc.
What current projects you're working on and might enter in 2022?
Giken America, you are this month's winner!
Send an email to marian@piledrivers.org before the end of September to claim your prize!
News from PDCA Companies
Anniversary:
Jordan Pile Driving celebrates 75 YEARS in business! They share a notable job story about a repeat customer: in the 1960s, Jordan drove pile to support a coal power plant at Alabama's Lowman Energy Center. Today, Project Manager Charles Ernest III and crew have installed an 1100 steel HP foundation for a new, gas-fired power generator at the same site that retired the black gold. We were fortunate to visit President Don Jordan Jr., CEO Curtis Johnson (in his 44th year), office manager Stephanie Baugh (a newlywed, BTW), Charles and others at Jordan; congratulations to a great team!

Parker Marine Contracting Corp. gets a nod for reaching 70 YEARS in pile driving! Owner Kent Parker says his dad Tommy founded the company in 1951 and established what he considers its most enduring quality - the "family" culture that still exists. He says, "the average length of service from our employees is 25 years;" that's a data point that helps enable longevity and success. Oh, and we hear they're hiring!

Acquisitions & Expansions:
On the job:
APC Construction lands new contracts; an $8.9M award for steel and concrete pile at a Louisiana port and from Fuji Oil for civil and concrete foundation work at IMTT, also in Louisiana.

Balfour Beatty Infrastructure wins contract for Harkers Island bridge replacement in North Carolina, also part of JV to deliver new courts facility in Winston-Salem.

Cajun Industries installs temporary shoring with Giken Silent Piler, credits steel rep April Bennett of Samuel Roll Form Group for coordination. Test and production piles to come for Fort Myers, FL, project.

McCarthy updates progress on Port Freeport project in Texas. See dramatic images of the precast scope led by Mike Williams, using concrete from new member Heldenfels Enterprises.

Hawaiian Dredging and Construction Company is part of JV winning two Navy contracts: a $33.5M award to build a fire station and a $546M contract for enlisted residential development.

Keller installed a Nucor Skyline steel foundation for One Chicago, a transformational development in the River North neighborhood; condo construction is expected to complete in 2022.

Logan Marine, LLC shares drone video of a summer project; completed docking in Salters Haven, NC.

Morris-Shea Bridge Company completes installation of 400 DeWaal piles for the Alexa Two residential building in Corpus Christi, TX; they completed Alexa One last year.

R. Kremer & Son Marine Contractors builds residential bulkhead with 16' tidewall, 50 vinyl sheets in Brick, N.J. The project is enhanced by new partnership with Mystic Safety to ensure OSHA compliance.

Scott Bridge Company works in Jupiter, FL, to install the steel foundation for a rail bridge replacement. Geoquip's HPSI Model 800 vibro is used in this caisson placement.

ESC Steel LLC supplies H-pile, steel sheeting in construction of quay wall in the United Arab Emirates.

Flexicore of Texas produced PS 20" diameter concrete piling (hurricane strength, corrosion resistant) for the re-build of Port Aransas, TX, Coast Guard Station expected online in 2022.

Dewberry is on the roster for a JV that NYSDOT selected to improve capacity on the Van Wyck Expressway; the high profile project also improves access to JFK Airport in New York City.

EXP provides services in ongoing work on a $414M cruise ship terminal at PortMiami.

Infrastructure Consulting & Engineering is the lead design firm for a JV in South Carolina tasked with reconfiguring 14 miles of the I-20/26/126 corridor, AKA, 'Malfunction Junction' in the Midlands.

Peirce Engineering designed the 21.42' high sheeting wall which held the 700' tall tower crane used in 'topping out' The Laurel Rittenhouse Square condo development in Philadelphia.

Premier Geotech and Testing contributes significant inspection, monitoring and testing in development of new, 'cutting- edge' residential community in Baton Rouge.

Governmental relations:
Recognitions:
  • Balfour Beatty Infrastructure earns annual safety award in North Carolina.
  • Cajun Industries, GROUP Industries named to Baton Rouge Business Report list of Top 100 Private Companies. (h/t Scott Callaway
  • Kiewit Infrastructure South wins two Best in Construction 2021 awards from FTBA.

Giving back:
Socially Conscious Organization Tackling Transmissions  Scott Bridge is on offense in the fight against COVID-19. Through September 6, it is providing employees a $500 incentive with proof of vaccination. Additionally, it opted to extend out of pocket, the leave payment benefit from the now-expired, Federal CARES Act, to any employee who gets sick or quarantines. SVP Mike Terrell says the latest Delta variant surge has significantly impacted their Alabama region.
People on the Move
Transitions:
  • Dermot Fallon named new President/CEO at Foundation Constructors, Inc., also Osama Martel elevates to VP at award-winning California contracting firm.
  • Bryan Binda, BSc joins Midwest regional sales team at Hammer & Steel.
  • Jimmi Sue Smith named successor to retiring CFO Mike Zugay at Koppers, effective January.
  • Allison Moran, PE, Eddie McIntosh, both promoted in ECS Limited, Greenville, SC, office.
  • Frank Gioscio, PE, formerly of NCDOT, joins ESP Associates as CEI manager in North Carolina.
  • Chad Ortolano, Michael Whipkey earn promotions at Eustis Engineering in New Orleans.
  • Joe Aldridge, Deb Landi, Ammar Alkhatatbih join team at GeoEngineers.
  • Amy Cook, PE departs SCDOT to become CEI Project Manager at S&ME in Columbia.

Recognitions:
Congratulations!
  • Rickey Ingram at GeoQuip (FL) and his family welcomed baby daughter Raya Grace in August.
  • Tim Patchen of Atlas Foundation Company and a competitive racer, notched his second Feature win on the dirt track this season.
  • Matthew Morales intern at Cajun Deep Foundations, is part of LSU race team that competed in a Michigan Formula race event and earned its best showing to date.

In Memoriam
Gene Merlino, a former PDCA Board of Directors member (2009-2011), unexpectedly passed this summer.
Notes from the Field
Which guest of Obama's broke the cables? Mere hours following the 60th birthday party for former President Barack Obama in August, an emergency repair crew from Caldwell Marine International arrived at Martha's Vineyard to fix broken cabling that supplies power to the Massachusetts island.

The mountain GOAT? GZA GeoEnvironmental staffers go hiking/camping annually in New Hampshire's high country. You might hear debate in sports about who is the Greatest of All Time or G.O.A.T., but his colleagues at GZA say Richard Higginbotham, P.E. is the mountain GOAT. That's complimentary, right?

Are they getting royalties? When we lift news from your social media for this publication, we see Members re-post past work as 'Throwback Thursday' items. John Peirce of Peirce Engineering shared such a note about his work on the Pleasantville (NJ) Toll Plaza (ca. 2006). This prompts us to question the motivation of the construction team which continues promoting this job because tolls aren't very popular with the general public.
Media Hits!
The Gambit, a weekly publication in Louisiana, writes on Boh Bros. Construction which apparently was the subject of a reader question to a columnist. Learn more about staple of New Orleans construction.

Mainebiz chronicles multiyear upgrade of waterfront concert venue in Bangor. H.B. Fleming, which installed sheet piling for the facility, is among the constructors involved.

Engineers Quarterly carries a feature co-authored by PND Engineers President Jim Campbell about the firm's patented Open Cell technology they're using in a South American bulkhead project.

Interview with a Survivor (DFI) features Billy Camp who details his legal defense experience when employer S&ME was sued because of a South Carolina sheet pile wall claim; (Lucky Nagarajan, of Giken, co-hosts the podcast). Also Civil Engineering Magazine (excerpt) quotes Kelly Farabee of S&ME in Tampa for an ongoing series considering community needs and civil rights in infrastructure projects.

Rail Group on Air podcast explores the impacts of California's Mondo mud spring on railroading; Shannon & Wilson professionals Travis Deane and Dean Francuch from the Seattle engineering firm discuss their infrastructure protection work.

Earth Sciences Resources interviews Estela Leon Aguilar, MS, PE of Universal Engineering Sciences; she discusses geotechnics, shares advice for students pursuing careers.
FacebookTwitterLinkedIn
Copyright © 2021 Pile Driving Contractors Association, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you are an industry leader in the piling community and
may be a member of the Pile Driving Contractors Association.

Posted in A Pile of News PDCA Monthly e-newsletter.

Post a comment (* required field)

Name *
Email * (will not be published)
Website
Comments *

Archives

Powered by BRYNK® Growth Platform