Project Highlights

The Nanaimo Cruise Terminal is a new Canadian port of call for cruise ships plying the Alaska trade, completed for the Nanaimo Port Authority in 2011. The project includes a floating pontoon cruise berth, piled mooring and berthing dolphins, a pile-supported access structure and waterside terminal building serving as both welcome centre, customs and immigration clearance and the Port Authority’s new offices. The terminal accepts 315m-long vessels and detailed berthing simulations were conducted to minimize the dredging footprint. Complex geotechnical conditions required site-specific piling design, while onshore, hundreds of stone columns were installed up to 30m to bedrock through use of specialty vibratory compaction equipment and topped with a mechanically-stabilized geopad to increase bearing capacities on poor subgrade conditions. This consisted of full project management and design and construction services for the Cruise Ship Terminal site and building. Site conditions required stringent runoff/pollution control measures to prevent contaminated runoff from entering the Nanaimo River estuary. Herold Engineering was the prime consultant and performed project management and civil and structural engineering, coordinated the retention of the architect, geotechnical engineer, mechanical engineer and electrical engineer and administered the construction contract for the Nanaimo Port Authority.