Taboguilla

Drive Drill Drive Pile Installation for jetty extension

Case Study | Taboguilla, Bunkering Terminal, Panama

The professional approach of

LDDs personnel and the high
standards of their equipment
and methods employed, have
been essential to our projects
success and we are really
happy with their participation in
the Taboguilla Works

Mario Irastorza,
Technical Director at Decal Espaa, S.A.

When LDD, an Acteon company

providing specialist offshore pile
installation services, first reviewed
details of a jetty extension off
Panamas Pacific coast, the limited
amount of site specific ground
investigation information could
have presented a real challenge.

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LDD was able to bid and execute the work

in confidence through the supply of a
complete drilled and driven pile installation
service offering a technically robust and
flexible solution to the client to ensure
foundations were installed to specification.
Using our wealth of expertise within LDD
and linking services within the Acteon
group, we set out to provide our client
Decal Panama with our specialist drive

T:+44 (0)1209 861 930

E: info@lddrill.com

drill drive service that can deal with variable

and uncertain ground conditions both
efficiently and safely.
Our installation solution negated the
requirement for the client to carry out
further expensive ground investigation
works and/or incur additional material and
programme costs associated with the
alternative drilled and grouted pile
installation approach.

Following a number of discussions with

the client, LDD was able to develop a
framework that ensured cost efficiency,
whilst minimising all parties risk exposure.
The jetty extension was required for the
expansion of Decals fuel bunkering facility
at Taboguilla Island, located in the Pacific
Ocean, close to the anchorage area for
vessels entering the Panama Canal.
The jetty extension consisted of 30no,
38m long 1056mm piles, driven into
approximately 8metres of overburden and
3.5metres of rock. Following relief drilling,
the piles were driven a further 3.5metre
into an under-reamed socket.
12 piles were raked 1/8 from vertical,
assembled in 3 groups of 4, connected by
a top support platform providing the base
for interconnecting foot bridges and a
group of 18 piles raked 1/4 and 1/8 from
vertical to support the mooring platform.
In April 2011 our team arrived at the
mobilisation site 30 minutes up the Chepo
river just east of Panama City to mobilise
our LD408 pile top drilling rig.
LDD supplied a supervised pile installation
crew consisting of a 6 man fully integrated
team, highly experienced in the operation
and maintenance of the complete drilling
and hammer equipment spreads.

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Scope of work:

drive-drill-drive service

No of piles:

30no

Pile diameter:

42-in. / 1056mm

Average length:

38m

Water depths:

10-12m

Tidal range:

<6.3m

Driveable overburden:

8m

Average drilling depth:

11.5m

Socket depth:

3.5m

Geology:

<20MPa

Average pile installation duration:

<12hrs

As our Projects Manager Lee Edwards

recalls, Its a bit intimidating starting a
project with very little ground investigation
information, but we know our kit so well
that with the right drilling rig and stock,
we can tackle anything we come across.
Using our LD408 reverse circulation pile
top drilling rig in combination with an S90
high performance hydraulic hammer,
stocked up with a selection of different
cutters and by using highly skilled
equipment operators, all piles were
installed to specification and within the
estimated pile installation schedule.
The drive drill drive service proved to be
the ideal solution for the pile installation
works at Taboguilla Island and gave our
client outstanding value to their operations.

T:+44 (0)1209 861 930

E: info@lddrill.com

Equipment
LD408 - pile top drilling rig
36-in. / 914mm drill bit with variable
under-reamer to max 48-in./1220mm
S90 - high performance hydraulic
hammer

Challenges
Limited ground investigation data
Expected geology to consist of hard
cobbles within softer strata
overburden and various competent
mudstone plus Igneous intrusions to
drill <20MPa
Central America mobilisation and
demobilisation logistics.