HOUSTON—The Port of Houston Authority is a 25-mile-long complex of 150-plus private and public industrial terminals along the 52-mile-long Houston Ship Channel and is consistently ranked first in the United States in foreign waterborne tonnage. A modernization project is currently underway at the port which will expand the facility.

McCarthy Building Companies Inc. is constructing three major projects there, including Bayport Wharf 2, Container Yard One and East End at Barbours Cut Terminal, and Barbours Cut Wharf 2 rehabilitation project. This brings McCarthy's current work with the port to approximately $121.6 million in construction costs.

“McCarthy is proud of our long-standing partnership with the Port of Houston Authority, one of the premier ports in the country,” said McCarthy's senior vice president of civil operations, Kurt Knebel. “Since 1991, the Port of Houston has relied on McCarthy's ability to construct complex marine projects on schedule. We look forward to once again delivering these three important modernization projects on time and on budget.”

McCarthy broke ground on $35 million Bayport Wharf 2 in August. This project will include 670 linear feet of new wharf for a container offloading facility that includes structural concrete, an elastomeric fender system, new utilities, electrical service, concrete pavement, crane rail system, electrical power trench and cable horns. This facility is scheduled for completion December 2017. Wharf 2 is a continuation of McCarthy's previous work on Bayport Wharf 3 which was completed in 2010.

The port also awarded McCarthy the $46.9 million Container Yard One and East End reconstruction at Barbours Cut Terminal which McCarthy began constructing in July of this year. The project consists of reconstruction of 40-plus acres of container yard space–10 acres in Container Yard 1 and 30 acres in the area referred to as the East End.

McCarthy is demolishing a 100,000-square-foot metal building located inside the current 30-acre East End yard which serves as a storage area for miscellaneous cargo. In addition, demolition of the existing pavement in the area will take place, which will be replaced with concrete pavement for container storage. The majority of the project consists of roller-compacted concrete, along with a substantial amount of joint-reinforced concrete paving. McCarthy will also do all of the site grading, soil stabilization, aggregate base and cast-in-place trench drain. This project will also include new underground electrical service, water lines, drainage and high mast lighting, and is expected to complete in August 2018.

The $38.8 million Barbours Cut Phase 2 Wharf project began construction in earlier this year in January, and will upgrade Wharf 2 to support larger cranes that can accommodate post-Panamax vessels. It consists of upgrading 1,000 linear feet of wharf, installing new foundations and crane rails, and constructing a new stevedore support building, high mast poles and the electrical infrastructure that are required for three new 100-foot gauge electric dock cranes. The upgrade of Barbours Cut Phase 2 completion is scheduled for July 2017.

“We are making great progress and are currently on schedule to complete in July 2017,” McCarthy's marine project director, Fitz O'Donnell, tells GlobeSt.com. “Drilled shaft foundations for the new crane beams are nearly complete and I'm proud to report we have worked over 70,000 man-hours to date with no recordable injuries.”

McCarthy has worked at various ports along the Gulf Coast for more than 25 years and is the nation's eighth largest port and marine builder ranked by Engineering News Record.

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Construction Proceeds on Port Expansion Projects

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