Heritage Wharf Work To Be Complete By May 15
The Ministry of Public Works said that the “construction stage” of Heritage Wharf in Dockyard is scheduled to be complete before the arrival of the Norwegian Breakaway cruise ship on May 15th this year.
A statement from the Ministry said: “The purpose of this investigation has been to determine the true design strength of the dock as constructed in order to design strengthening works necessary to accommodate new larger cruise ships proposed by Norwegian Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean International. The construction stage of this project is scheduled to be complete before the arrival of the Norwegian Breakaway on May 15th this year.
“The increased length of the Norwegian Breakaway means that an addition mooring location will be required to the north of Heritage Wharf, extending the catwalk by eighty feet. In time an extension to the dock area to accommodate the entrance and exit companion way locations will be required.
“In addition to this our structural investigations and analysis have revealed that the new Wharf is not strong enough to take the required ship design loadings in berthing maneuvers or in mooring scenarios to required design wind strengths for both the ships currently using the docks and those proposed for the future.
“Consequently it has become evident that we will need to construct a total of four mooring and berthing structures; two additional mooring structures (one noted above) and two additional berthing structures before the arrival of cruise ships.
“Design works for this project are at an advanced stage and the Ministry of Public Works is in the process of procurement of the construction contract which will ensure that the dock is ready for the season. The construction contract was tendered in accordance with Financial Instructions to six local general contractors, the preferred contractor and their team is SunRise Construction Limited partnered with Crisson Construction and Onsite Engineering. The Government is presently completing this procurement.
“Design and construction works for these improvements do not require channel widening and channel widening will not form part of the works. The Ministry of Public Works will undertake studies into the potential requirement for channel widening and the environmental impact of such widening in an ongoing study of Bermuda’s cruise ship potential in the future.
“The Department of Marine and Ports has reviewed the design characteristics of the ship along with Norwegian Cruise Line principles and are confident that the current shipping lanes are adequate and that wind restriction safeguards as utilized for other cruise ships already calling can be adapted for this vessel in order to ensure safe operation.
“Pre-consultation work with all the relevant Government agencies has been on going and key stakeholder groups have been contacted. The Ministry of Public Works will be undertaking further consultations in the coming weeks. It is hoped that a formal planning application will be filed on 1 February and with key staff at relevant agencies dedicated to this project review, we can complete the planning process before the end of February 2013 and works could begin by 1 March.
“In the coming weeks the public should expect to see activity in the area as we undertake essential geological investigations and begin to procure the materials needed to build the new structures and to put them in place ready for commencement of construction.
“Works to Heritage Wharf will be similar in nature to those undertaken to construct the dock originally. No additional works peripheral to the site will be required to accommodate the Norwegian Breakaway. The original environmental studies are still valid and will be supplemented with additional environment, social and economic studies for both this first and the next phase of the works.
“On completion of these works the dock will be able to accept the new Norwegian Cruise Line Breakaway vessel at the wharf, the dock will also be able to handle other larger vessels that have been reviewed as part of the design process.
“Additional works will be completed during the next two cruise ship seasons to upgrade Kings Wharf Dock to the same level in order that we may accommodate these vessels on each dock.”
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Reading this is a breath of fresh air… Great Job.
In Cayman they can have as many as seven large ships at the Island at once, none of which tie up “alongside”. Instead they ferry the passengers ashore to the awaiting transport. Can’t we do that?
@Sandgrownan. With all due respect mate, you cannot compare Bda to Cayman. Cayman is LUCKY that it is smack dab in the middle of the tourist shipping lanes. If you were to place Cayman in the middle of the Atlantic, they would be pressed to entice ANY ship to go there. Bda has a unique challange on its hands because it (and it alone) has to justify to a cruise ship company why taking a ship to Bermuda is profitable. The Cayman has no such problem as the cruise ships are already floating about in the general area, so stopping at the Cayman is no big deal. Have you EVER heard of a cruise whereby a cruise ship leaves the USA, and ONLY goes to the Cayman? I bet you have not, and I doubt mate you ever will.
Maybe all major government projects should have a warranty period of more than the standard one year written up in the construction contract.
Just a thought.
Please tell me this is not the same dock that Correia built and went over budget by $20million
It’s the same dock.
Hmmm – Man I tell you, we need to have a sick bag tied around our necks for whatever else is to come because we are going to be interested on one side of the face and sicker than hell on the other… I read a week or so ago the Bahamas paper after I heard a lady speaking about their National Stadium which is supposed to have had the Carifta games there this year – what an uproar – the “C” word is rampant down there.
Yes it’s the same dock! At an overrun of $20 million, he should be made to have it professionally fixed at his OWN expense. He made way more money than he should have for that project, off the backs of the taxpayers.
Well I hope the OBA are paying attention on which contractors NOT to be using, apart from the questionable cost, theres a little matter of a crap product, a lobster has a longer lifespan than a Corriea dock!
at least a date has been set.
very sad all that money spent to build the dock and only lasted a few years NOW we have to use more money to re-build it and hopefully the same contractor is not used. What a waste of the tax payers money. Pisses me off
My thoughts exactly. Is there some form of insurance on such projects? Surly a Project this size warrants at least 10years warranty on work of basic structure not crumbling into the sea?
That dock and terminal was a disaster from the start. The government, or should I say we the people, were seriously ripped off. Some of the fixtures and fittings were obviously used (second hand) and probably came from previous projects. The sinks in the washrooms were all rusty. How can a sink in a brand new facility be rusty already? Somebody made some serious money off that project, and I’m not just talking about Corriea Construction!
My question is do the people Correia is dealing with in Roatan and St. Kitts even know about this?