Proc. Instn Civ.

Engrs, Part 1, 1978, 64, May, 249-260

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DISCUSSION

Design and construction of Kwai Chung container terminal, Hong Kong, berths 1 . 2 and 3
J. F. LINDSAY, R. J. OSBORN, P.

E. H A M O N 81 Y. KIKKAWA

Mr Lindsay Stage l works comprise basically the quay wall construction and reclamation, stage 2 works being the paving, buildings and services. Whereas the Paper deals only with berths l , 2 and 3 which werethose then completed, two further berths have subsequently been constructed. 96. Berth 4 is owned by Hong Kong International Terminals Ltd. It was built by a consortium headed by Nishimatsu Construction Co. Ltd, and the main consulting engineers were Maunsell Consultants, Asia. Berth 5 , owned by Modern Terminals (Berth 5) Ltd (Modern Terminals Ltd in consortium with Hong Kong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown Co. Ltd), was constructed by Gammon (Hong Kong) Ltd, and the principal consulting engineers were Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick and Partners, Hong Kong. 97. Berths 4 and 5 can each accommodate three container vessels simultaneously, and although Hong Kong was late in entering the container age, it is now the fourth largest container port in the world in terms of annual throughput.
M r E. L. Barron, Peter Fraenkel & Partners The Authors mention in Q 19 that both tenders involved export credit. Did this give any difficulties? For example, were the tenders subject to export credit being provided, or did the export insurance agency require payment of foreign currency by irrevocable letters of credit? 99. Cyclones were mentioned in Q 1. Did the contract contain any special provision for extension of time for days when storm signal 8, 9 or 10 was hoisted on the Royal Observatory, and did delays actually occur owing to cyclones? 100. I like the argument in Q 17 that tenderers should be in a better position than the developers to judge the effect of changes in costs and exchange rates, although the object of a fluctuation clause is to avoid either party having to make such judgement. If the tenderer adds a sum to cover the effect of such changes, the employer still has to make his own forecast in order to verify that this amount is not excessive. Did the fixed price requirement significantly reduce the number of contractors prepared to tender, and did the provision for such changes significantly increase the tendertotals over what would have resulted from the use of a price fluctuation clause? M r J. E. G. Palmer, Rendel. Palrner & Tritton It was a remarkable effort to get the first berth into use within 19 months of the start of the job andI congratulate the Authors on achieving the same time as atAden in 1953.
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In their view was any of the cost of the job attributable in any way to the fact that it was Government sponsored? Would it have cost less if there had been an independent port authority there? If this hasnot been set up in Hong KongI would urge that it be done as soon as possible. 102. These first three berths, I believe, have been in use for four years, i.e. 12 berth years. Could the Authors please let me know what is the average throughput per berth per year? 103. Are pilots required for the ships? Assuming they are, have the Authors heard any complaints from the pilots about difficulties in getting alongside? Which way do the ships berth, bow-in, or stern-in, or both? Have there been any collisions? Are there any serious delays in container vessels waiting to get to an empty berth? Are more container berths required in Hong Kong? 104. Are large amounts of maintenance dredging required? Is there a lot of accretion? Who does the maintenance dredging without any port authority? Finally, is there anything the Authors would now do differently?
Mr P. G. R. Barlow, Coode & Partners For 1 0 years I have been responsible for the development of Port Klang, formerly Port Swettenham, which is a container station on the same route as the one described in the Paper. 106. I should like to ask a question about the Seibu fendering. Do those fenders perform well in practice? Are they suffering any damage or tearing? Have there been any problems from the bulbous bows of container ships? On occasions pilots find that container ships manoeuvre more easily than others of this size, and tend to bring them in rather too sharply. An angle of about 1 in 7 is the limit for safety. Has any damage occurred at Hong s o n g to ships, piles or fenders? 107. With regard to reclamation, I wonder whether Stelcon rafts or something similar were considered. On the reclamation at Port Klang there is greater and more prolonged settlement because it is on a mangrove swamp. A depth of 10 ft of sand had to be added to gain 6 ft of height, but Stelcon rafts are being used successfully there. Local Chinese contractors are now producing similar units, which appear to be equally good. 108. I was interested to hear about the quick release hooks. Initially, the shipping people at Port Swettenham insisted that these were essential, but now their successors, in the same firms, are asking why they were put in. 109. Anchoring of container cranes may appear unnecessary in many parts of the world. At Port Klang a similar type of anchorage was provided but was not always used. On oneoccasion two container cranes were left during a lunch break and a freak storm arose,with winds up to 60 mile/h. Both cranes were blownalong 2000 ft of quay, and the leading one tore out the buffers and ran on to the adjacent wharf. Though this wharf should not have been strong enough to carry it, the crane remained vertical and both were able to be driven back again. Even more fortunately, a ship load of pilgrims who had been on the quay only 100 ft ahead of the cranes, had run for shelter from the rain and were not hurt. Mr R. N. Sainbury, John Mowlern & Co. Ltd In the Paper it was commented that berths 2 and 3 had no raking piles, but it was also mentioned that while the filling in of material was going on, some trouble was experienced from the plumb pilesbeingmoved over. These are apparently the pileswhich ultimately have to resist all the forces acting on the quay. 1 1 1 . I would like to know a little more about how this aspect of the designwas analysed. Evidently there are a large number of piles to resist the loads, but the flexibility of each individual pile would seem to be difficult to assess. The amount of that flexibility would, however, determine how far along the berth the particular loads are Delivered by ICEVirtualLibrary.com distributed, and in turn affect the design of the top deck. to:

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M r J . Berry, Bertlin & Partners

I have found in the past that sheet pile wallsare often the most economic solution, and it is most interesting that one tenderer's alternative design was for a sheet pile wall rather than a slurry trench diaphragm type. There has been propaganda from the Italians on the merits of slurry trench walls for quay construction, but it is interesting that in this particular case neither of the solutions actually adopted used this form of construction. 113. It is stated that various soil rigidity factors were used and I would like to know more about the tenderer's design method. The National Ports Council and CIRIA have sponsored research studies onthe designof sheet pile and the outcome was a recommendation that, in general, designs to the West German Recommendationss prove more economical, although Rowe's w ~ r k , ~ which - ' ~ is based on rigidity factors, came out favourably. I wonder if the Authors know a little more about the detailed method of the design of the sheet pile wall. 114. The composite type of sheet pile wall which was adopted is very suitable for taking heavy axial loads as well as bending loads. There can be trouble sometimes with driving. In a design I am doing at the moment, I am concerned about the problems the contractor may have in placing pairs of king piles accurately so that there are no problems with the curtain piles. Were any such problems encountered? 115. A particular feature of the design is that the tie rod is at a very low level. The Paper mentions that placing a tie rod in 5.m of murky water is difficult. I can quite see that at the rear end of the tie rod, at the anchor wall, nothing can be done to raise its level becauseof the passive resistance needed, but at the sheet pile wall end it would have been possible to have raised the level of the tie-rod anchorage. The Contractor did the design, so he produced his own difficulties, but I should like to know whether this was thought of as being a potential problem. 116. I gather that much of the settlement was worked out by surcharging. I presume, though, that this took place after the tie rods were placed. I tend myself to be rather cautious about loading tie rods vertically, and usually specify some sort of protective covers. I wonder whether this was thought of. 117. I presume that mild steel was used for tie rods. I do not personally like high tensile tie rods where there is less metal as the effects of corrosion are far worse. 118. Shell International Petroleum Co. Ltd has produced some thick bituminous coatings which are said to cut out the effects of negative skin friction due to fill settling. I have had no practical experience of this, and I wonder if the Authors have any conclusions as to its efficacy.
M r R. L. Fitt, Sir Alexander Gibb and Partners As a Past President of FIDIC, the International Federation of Consulting Engineers, I would like to refer to particular problems mentioned in relation to the form of contract. The International Conditions of Contract are sponsored not only by FIDIC, but also by four groups of contractor's federations, one of which is the Asian and Western Pacific Association. 120. Contractors hope to have a clause or clauses written into the contract dealing in detail with the problem of escalation. The philosophy FIDIC is following in revising the international conditions is that on all contracts there are risks, some of them financial, and that these risks should be'equitably shared between the parties. Some of the risks the contractor himself is undoubtedly willing to bear, for example those relating to the method of construction for which he is responsible. On the other hand, it is, in my opinion, unfair and unjust for the contractor alone to be expectedto predict when he is preparing his bid precisely what degree of inflation is going to take place and how currency exchange rates are going to vary, particularly with international contracts under which payment has to be made in more than one currency. These are highly complicated issues which should be resolved before the contract is awarded. Delivered by ICEVirtualLibrary.com to:is impossible to write 121. However, when drafting an international contract it
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DISCUSSION clauses applicable to every contract wherever it may be situated; so therefore in preparing the new international conditions, clauses have been drafted which it is hoped will give clear guidance as to how these things should be dealt with. One deals with escalation of costs and another with the problems arising from fluctuating currency exchange rates. 122. The FIDIC conditions are in two parts. Part 1 is completely drafted. Part 2 is a series of guidelines aimed to ensure that wherever the document is used around the world there will bea propersharing of risks and that the contractor will be able to submit a competitive price, knowing that he is not being asked to include in that price for financial risks which he cannot possibly estimate in advance.
Mr C . J. Conway, National Ports Council I should like to ask whether any indication could be given as to the relative costs of the different quay wall designs? I would like to draw a distinction between that part of the quay wall which includes the back-up apron, andthe reclamation area and paving of the storage areas. 124. On the sheet-pile wall structure, reference was made to the ties, indicating that their design was a prime consideration. Were any measurements made of the loads on the ties or the sheet pile wall to indicate whether the loads anticipated did arise? 125. Have any effects beennoted on the blacktop surfacing, in areas where settlement has not been severe, due to extreme temperature variations or to oil seepage from vehicles working on the berth? 126. When advance warning of a typhoon is given, is each container anchored to the next and to the apron? If so how much time is needed to go through the whole of the stack and connect the containers together? , Mr K. A. Phillips, Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick & Partners It would be interesting to hear a little more about the extent to which export credit was involved. Mr P. F. B. Tatham, Livesey and Henderson Would the Authors give the comparative costs per metre run of the sheet pile wall, the piled deck over a revetted slope and the post-tensioned diaphragm wall? What form of construction has been used for other berths subsequently built at Kwai Chung? 129. It is mentioned in 0 28 that concrete friction slabs were used to anchor bollards etc. The friction slabs were presumably necessary because the sheet pile anchor wall was continuous. Where were the friction slabs placed in relation to the anchor wall? 130. With reference to $8 45 and 50, were horizontal loading tests-particularly towards the toeof the slope+arried out tocheck that the horizontal subgrade reaction in the filling was as assumed in the design? 131. Why were movement joints (p 46) considered necessary in the wharf deck? Similar wharves over 600 m long have been built without joints and have performed satisfactorily. If the quay structure was analysed on the basisofflexible beams on flexible supports (p 47), how was the as-constructed variation in pile length and hence the variable load/deffexion response of the piles allowed for in the calculations? 132. The dedi, described in 0 54, appears to have beams in both directions. Is not the usual practice of having slabs spanning between transverse beams quicker to construct and less costly? 133. What is the purpose of the asphalt surfacing to the concrete deck? Why was a waterproof membrane considered for protection of the concrete? Concrete does not normally have to be protected against seawater tiy such a membrane. 134. Was the use of a coating for the piles (0 89) considered as a means of reducing negative friction? There is reference in p 47 to negative friction on the wharf piles in an area where the mud has been removed-but in $ 43 it is stated that, for thelandward crane rail, uncased in situ piles were used in a similar area. Does not such a type of pile maximize the negative friction? Delivered by ICEVirtualLibrary.com to:
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7752 135. In Appendix 1 (b), the design load on the wharf deck is given as 1000 Ib/sq. ft. Is the load reduced when applied as a surcharge to the back of the sheet pile wall and when calculating pile loads in the suspended deck scheme? How is the specified load related to the equipment operating on the wharf, as 5 58 makes it clear it is not related to stacking loads? M r J. T. Edwards, Freeman Fox and Partners The importance to international contractors tendering overseas under FIDIC Conditions of Contract of having provision for escalation payments has been pointed out, and Mr Fitt, as a former President of FIDIC, has confirmed that the new revision of the FIDIC Conditions will have a general provision for escalation although details of how it should be applied cannot be devised so as to be suitable for all countries. 137. As consulting engineers to the Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway Corporation, Freeman Fox and Partners had to include an escalation provision in the Conditions of Contract, which are based on those of FIDIC, since it was desired to obtain alternative tenders, one based on fixed prices and the other with escalation provision. An escalation method using actual increases in cost of actual quantities was felt to be inappropriate for Hong Kong, so one based on indices was chosen. 138. The difficulty with contracts in overseas countries which are open to international tender is that suitable indices of labour and materials are not usually available. A materials index, based on the currentmarket cost of fixed quantities of nine imported and local materials used in construction and a labourindex, based on the monthly direct cost of 74 men from senior engineer to labourer, was therefore devised. All rates were obtained from government sources. The cost of those amounts of labour and materials was calculated on the 15th day ofeach month. The value of the labour andthe materials for the first calculation, which was made prior to receipt of the first tenders, was converted to unity in each case and the value for each subsequent month related to that original index. 139. Tenderers for all subsequent contracts have been provided with the values of the indices.not less than one month before return of tenders. The indices are applied at each interim valuation to each item in the bill of quantities using the percentages of labour and materials declared b y the contractor in his tender. He is paid 90% of the increase. 140. Such a procedure may on the one hand be considered rough justice and even unfair on either party, but on the other hand it does give the contractorsubstantial payment of all materials increases even though some of his materials may not be used in the index calculation. It also provides for some reimbursement of additional staff costs as well as manual labour costs which can be a substantial figure in overseas contracts. It enables the contractor to assess the effect of the indices when preparing his tender and to allow accordingly for his assessment in fixing his prices.
M r C. W. N. McGowan, Consulting. Engineer (retd) I have read the Paper with great interest, particularly as I was the Admiralty civil

engineer at the Hong Kong Naval Base at the time of the worst typhoon in the history of the colony, to which the Authors refer in 0 1 . I would like to know whether the Authors allowed for thepossibility of a recurrence of weather conditions of such severity in their design, or whether they considered that such a recurrence would be too remote a possibility to require to be taken into account, with inevitable higher construction costs. Did the cost of HK$400 million quoted in 0 93 result partly from the inclusion of allowances for conditions of this magnitude? 142. In the hope that the local press report of that record-breaking storm will add still further to the interest in this excellent paper I give the following account based on the South China Morning Post of 3 and 4 September, 1937. 143. The typhoon was first detected over the Pacific to to: the east of Luzon on 28 Delivered by ICEVirtualLibrary.com
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DISCUSSION August, 1937, and it seemed likely that it would continue NNW. The centre passed to the north of the Pratas Shoal, some distance from Hong Kong,at 5p.m. on 1 September with a speed of 17 knots. The average speed of typhoons in the Hong Kong latitude is 11 knots. The sky during 1 September was sultry. The barometer began to fall slowly at 3p.m. and by 9p.m. the fall was accelerating rapidly. Lightning was seen at 8p.m. At midnight, when the centre was 60 miles from the colony, the rainfall became heavy and continuous, the No. 10 signal Wind of typhoon force expected, comprising red, green, and red lights, was displayed on the various masts at 1.58a.m. on 2 September, followed by the firing of three explosive bombs (maroons), at 2.10a.m. 144. By this time the wind had reached gale force and the pressure was falling at a phenomenal rate. It was clear that the typhoon was of great intensity and that the centre would pass close to Hong Kong. 145. Severa1,gusts of over 125 mile/h from N and NE occurred between 3.20a.m. and 3.50a.m. The anemometer on the roof of the power station registered a gust of 164 mile/h, at 3.30a.m. (Fig. 9). The instrument was afterwards tested and found to be 3 mile/h low. Thus the gust rate was actually 167 mile/h. The minimum barometer reading reached at the observatory was 28.298 in. at 3.45a.m., but several barographs nearer to the centre recorded pressures below 28 in. That at Waglan Lighthouse recorded 27.76 in. 146. The wind veered from N through E to SE while the centre was passing, at the same time decreasing appreciably in velocity, then rising again to a maximum gust of 124 mile/h from ESE at 4.45a.m. From then on it gradually fell away to a fresh wind at lla.m. Rainfall ceased from 3a.m. to 3.50a.m. The heaviest fall occurred after the SE wind had set in, 2.15 in. being recorded between 4.30a.m. and 5.30a.m. 147. The storm track was estimated to have run WNW 5 miles to the south of VictoriaIsland. Observers noticed a distinct lull lasting 20min. while thecentre was nearest. The typhooncontinued on its courset crossing the coast to the north of Macao, and filling up further inland. 148. The harbour level rose between 3.30a.m. and 5a.m. on the 2 September to approximately 6 ft above the predicted high tide level at 6.50a.m. At Taipo a tidal wave 30 ft high flung itself on the market. It destroyed 4 miles of the Kowloon-Canton Railway Line, and drowned at least 200 people. At Shataukok the fishing fleet was destroyed, with the loss of the ships crews. 149. Amongst the score of ships wrecked, badly damaged, or tomfrom their double typhoon moorings in the harbour were HMS Cornflower, the S S Talamba, an 11 OOO ton liner, a 17 OOO ton Japanese luxury liner, the S S Asama Muru, and theItalian 20 OOO ton liner Conte Verde: all four ran aground. The Van Heursz, a KPM 4600 ton steamer, had 1260 persons aboard when she grounded and became badly holed near Green Island, taking a heavy list to starboard as her passengers were taken off amid the stormy seas. This ship later sank. 150. The 1937 typhoon reached the greatest severity recorded in the Colony to date, a severity to which the Kwai Chung Terminal may well be subject in the future. The one in 1936, which I also experienced, was milder, the wind velocity on that occasion reaching 131 mile/h. Where else in the world has a terminal withstood a 167 miIe/h or even greater wind velocity? Mr D. C. Coode, Coode & Partners The Authors state that berth 1 was completed in about 19 months from the letting of the construction contract and the start of the detailed design work, which is presumed to mean the working drawings, and it is assumed that mobilization started immediately after the award of the contract. Thus some 305 m of quay wall, having a height of some 18 m from final dredged level to cope, were completed in the 19 months, undoubtedly a very creditable effort. 152. A comparable, if not better result, is being achieved by a contractor in Doha,
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Qatar, who is constructing a blockwork quay wall, founded on a rubble base, with rubble backing and a concrete surfaced area 21 m wide behind the cope line, the wall having a height of 11.13 m from cope to top of rubble base. The contract was awarded on 21 January, 1976. By 26 November, 1976, the first 190 m of quay were handed over, and the second 190 m were handed over on 18 December, 1976. The contractor completed the full 872 m of quay wall and surfacing by the end of April 1977, thatis a total months from date of award, at a cost of Q.Rls 86 million (12.6 million). period of 15% All plant and equipment had to be shipped to Doha, and the labour force had to be recruited from India or Pakistan. Thus the rate of construction in Doha is equivalent to for a wall some some 61 mlmonth on average, compared with 16 m/month in Hong Kong 50% higher.
Messrs Lindsay, Osborn, Hamon and Kikkawa M r Barron enquired whether export credit gave rise.to any difficulties and M r Phillips

requested more details of the involvement of export credit. Tenders were invited on the basis that any export credit (or indeed any other credit terms) that tenderers were able to offer in a parallel agreement would betaken into account in assessing the tenders. Thus the tenders stood on their own, and the developers had the additional option of whether or not to accept the credit terms. In the event not all the tenders were accompanied by offers of export credit. 154. Payments to the Contractors were certified partly in HK dollars and partly in the currency of the export credit. For these purposes fixed exchange rates were written into the various contracts; the mechanics of the payments worked very smoothly. 155. The main effect of requesting export credit was to swing the balance in favour of designs which incorporated a significant export content. The late decision by the developers to request export credit was the fundamental reason for the Consulting Engineers design not being adopted; the Authors believe that the financial requirements of a developer should preferably be defined as clearly as the physical requirements at the conceptual stage of a project. 156. Mr Barron says that the object of a fluctuation clause is to avoid either party to a contract having to judge the effects of changes in costs and exchange rates. This is debatable, as a developer making a commitment to a major expenditure must estimate the final construction cost so that he can judge profitability of the project in relation to income based on anticipated costs in the developers owntrade, in this case international shipping. 157. The exclusion of a fluctuation clause did not deter any tenderers; the only tenderers who did withdraw were deterred by the short time for completion in relation to problems of mobilization from Europe. The division of the project intoseparate developments and the rapid construction programme were far more significant causes for concern to potential tenderers than the exclusion of a fluctuation clause. 158. Mr Fitt has explained FIDICs approach to financial risks and M r Edwards has described the problems of trying to devise practicable and equitable fluctuation accounting procedures in territories where one does not have the wealth of statistical data which is available in UK. The Hong KongPublic Works Department includes a fluctuation clause in most of its contracts (see Grunberg er d , 1 5 ) , but as the Hong Kong Government records of average costs did not include plant, fuel or asphalt it would have been illusory to have considered such records as representing more than a small portion of the potential fluctuations in the cost of this plant-intensive project. As a point of general interest Hong Kong Government current contracts with a fluctuation clause based on 1973 basic costs are subject to significant negative adjustments. 159. . In a very limited market such as Hong Kong, prices are very sensitive to local market forces and can rise dramatically in times of shortages for any reason and later fall equally dramatically. With widespread use of indexing there isless incentive for purchasing agencies to apply market forces to regularize the situation by, for instance, purchasing directly from outside by Hong Kong. Delivered ICEVirtualLibrary.com to:
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160. The Contracts did include plant advances (p 18) which were an inducement to early mobilization, which in itself reduced some of the financial risk. The incorporation of plant advances had a very significant and predictable effect on the cash flow of the Contracts. The allowance made by tenderers for anticipated fluctuations cannot be quantified against actual costs, but unit rates of the major work items were similar to those for othercomparable work in Hong Kongtendered for in 1971, though lower than rates for comparable items tendered for in 1972. Nevertheless the Contracts were concluded swiftly and satisfactorily and the projects were completed not only on time but also to budget. 161. Mr Palmer queried the cost of government sponsorship. The rapid development of the berths was the result of the urgent need of the international shipping companies to complete their world-wide network of full container services. Undoubtedly the very short construction period added significantly to the construction cost; this was a function of the timing of the award of the berths. 162. In view o f the urgency of the project the conditions of contract were categoric that there were no provisions for extensions of time for typhoons, which Mr Barron enquired about, or for any other weather conditions. Typhoon Rose in August 1971 was a severe typhoon with 3 S gusts up to about 200 km/h, but the construction of the quay structures was programmed to commence just after the end of the 1971 typhoon season and damage was restricted to a barge-loading pier hit by a ship going aground. Unusually long periods of rain in the summer of 1972 had a significant effect on the installation of utilities and paving in berth 1 which had to be operational before the commencement of the winter dry weather. The effects of the extreme types of weather experienced in Hong Kong can be mitigated to a large extent by careful programming, provided there is sufficient time in the construction period. 163. Mr McCowans description of the 1937 typhoon is extremely interesting. The 1937 typhoon and Typhoon Wanda in September 1962 are the two most severe typhoons ever recorded in Hong Kong; unfortunately the Royal Observatorys anemometer was damaged at the peak of the 1962 storm, but it was estimated that peak 3 S gusts were above 260 km/h. The completed container terminal has not yet been subjected to winds in excess of l10 km/h so the next severetyphoon is awaited with interest. The site is protected to some extent from winds from the NE and E, which are the directions from which the most severe gusts usually occur, but nevertheless the design wind loadings are much more severe than at most other major ports, and all major elements are designed to withstand a typhoon similar to the 1937 typhoon (with 25% permitted overstress). The quay cranes, their typhoon anchorages, the lighting towers, the container freight station sheds and the yard container anchors all involvedextra expenditure because of the high wind loads, but compared with wind loads for southern England the extra cost is probably only of the order of HK$20 million. 1 6 4 . Mr Palmers suggestion about an independent port authoriiy will be read with interest in the appropriate quarters. Pilots operating under the control of the Marine Department are used generally throughout Hong Kong Harbour, especially for large ships. Container ships are generally berthed bows in to the berth 1/5 junction, except that while construction was in progress on berths 4 and 5 ships usually berthed with the stem away from the construction activity to avoid the danger of propellers fouling construction plant, mooring lines etc. There has been much less difficulty withberthing than was expected in some quarters; the increase in readily available tug capacity has helped and the considerable tidal flow in Rambler Channel does not affect manoeuvring as much as feared when the site was originally selected in consultation with the shipping companies. There have, however,been several berthing mishaps to date, mostly of minor significance but two of which involvedsome damage to the piles of berth 5 by the bulbous bows of vessels berthing at berth 1 . 165. There has been little accretion in the approachto the berths, but if it does occur, maintenance dredging will be undertaken by the Port Works Division of the PWD. Delivered ICEVirtualLibrary.com to: 166. Mr Barlows comment on by the quick release hooks at Port Klang is interesting;
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at Kwai Chung they are fitted only on berth 1 and the quick release mechanisms have seldom been used. 167. The Seibu fenders have given good service to date and the only significant damage occurred very recently when a steel hawser was inadvertently allowed to foul a fender. ' The damaged fender is being replaced by a new unit, which is a simple operation. The small tidal range in Hong Kong is a great benefit in relation to fendering. 168. In 1976 Hong Kong handled 1.03 million TEUs (almost all at Kwai Chung) to overtake Kobe andbecome the third busiest container port in the world after New York and Rotterdam. At one berth a sustained movement rate of 81 containers/h for a vessel served by two quay cranes has been achieved; this is believed to have been unequalled elsewhere in the world. Kwai Chung functions round the clock throughout the year and its operations are to a significant extent governed by conditions at ports elsewhere in the region, where night and weekend working may not be normal. This dictates arrivals and departures of vessels at HongKong and results in some minor delays. 169. Mr Sainsbury enquired about the flexibility of each individual pile in berths 2 and 3; this is directly related to the soil conditions immediately below the rip-rap and graded rockfill, which were not considered to contribute to the reaction, although they were considered as surcharge and did assist in consolidation of the fill. The pile the time or the surcharge load to consolidate. movements occurred before the fill had had 170. The flexibility of the landward piles is obviously much less than that of the seaward piles and therefore a large proportion of the horizontal forces are distributed to the landward row of piles which contains an additional pile between each bent. 171. The analysis of the berth 2 and 3 design took account of the flexibilities of all piles to determine how a particular load was resisted by the structure assuming that the top deck acted as a rigid plate, and the deck was designed accordingly for the associated moments and shear forces. 172. Movement joints were provided to limit the stresses in the structure due to thermal effects. Calculations showed that the horizontal load-deflexion response of the piles was largely controlled by about the first 20 ft or so of penetration and that deeper piles were not significantly stiffer. All piles were in fact driven deeper to achieve the required set. Beams were provided in both directions to stiffen the deck to distribute the forces referred to in the previous paragraph. 173. Mr Berry's observation about slurry trench walls should be considered in the context of the requirement for export credit. 174. The use of a travelling frame (0 38) ensured that there were no problems with the accuracy of driving the king piles; the inclusion of an omega junction bar with the intermediate curtain piles ensured that the king pile spacing was not critical. One pair of intermediate curtain piles fouled a stray boulder during driving but otherwise there were no problems. 175. In the early stages of design the tie rods were located with the quay end above low water level which would have made installation much easier. However the bending moments in the king piles were the controlling factor despite the use of stiffening plates (5 27), and the tie rods had to be lowered to reduce the bending moments with the consequent installation problem. The alternative of reducing the spacing of the king piles would have been very expensive and would have resulted in severe logistical problems, as there was a long lead-time on the heavy sheet-pileelements and thebox-pile fabrication plant would have been overstretched. 176. The implications of settlement in relation to the tie rods are not too serious as the anchor wall itself is subject to the same settlement and the tapered duct in the king pile (Fig. 6 ) permits rotational movement at the seaward end. The tie rods are mild steel from considerations of corrosipn and corrosion protection tubes were installed to protect the vulnerable threaded portions adjacent to the articulation coupling and turnbuckle. Tie-rod tensions have been checked by jacking at the seaward end and actual tensions were in line with expectations. Delivered by ICEVirtualLibrary.com to: 177. Mr Conway and Mr Tatham enquired about the relative costs of the different
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quay wall designs. Based on tendered rates and a vertical measurement line some 40 m landward of the cope line, the costs per unit length of the two forms of quay construction are roughly equal but the return end detail of the berth 1 retaining wall involved greater complexities at the ends of the berth. As two ends were required for just one berth this was an example of the loss of economy of Scale that resulted from the division of the project into separate developments. On tendered rates the diaphragm wall design was about 10% more expensive per unit length, but the main quay wall and reclamation contracts were dominated by the cost of dredging and earthworks, so that comparison of individual elements of cost can be misleading. 178. The additional tie rods required to transmit high concentrated bollard forces were laid at high level from the capping beam to concrete friction rafts located well to landward of the sheet-pile anchor wall. 179. It was not possible to carry out horizontal loading tests under representative conditions, but the load-response characteristics measured during the rectification of displaced piles were related to results of pressure meter tests carried out on representative fill at differing states of consolidation. 180. The analysis of the quay wall took account of the flexibilities of the tie rods, the piles and the soil, following the approach of Rowe and Terzaghi. 181. The asphalt surfacing to the concrete deck is primarily intended to reduce the incidence of damage from the corner castings of containers and other accidental impacts and also to reduce glare for the container crane operator, whose operational efficiency is the key to the whole operation. It was considered that it would be easier in due course to replace the asphalt than to repair the concrete surface. A waterproof membrane was considered necessary because the construction joints between the precast slabs and in situ concrete occur where there are hogging bending moments. 182. Slip layers were considered for the various piled foundations to reduce the very significant negative friction loads, but at that date there was insufficient evidence that the slip layer would not deteriorate and eventually break downwhen subjected to the climatic, chemical and biological conditions likely to be experienced on this site, which is adjacent to a vast public dump extending far below the original sea level. There was insufficient time to pursue the matter for this project, but further research is currently being formulated in connection with the design of future major foundations in new reclamation. . 183. The type of in situ concrete pile used in the landward crane beam of berth 1 has, in effect, a slip-formed finish but it is true that the negative friction load is greater than for a steel tubular pile of the same diameter; nevertheless this type of pile was apparently the economical solution at the time due primarily to availability of the plant. 184. The technical schedule (Appendix l ) was drawn up by the Hong Kong Government to ensure that serviceable berths were developed and to ensure uniformity. The Government agreed to a reduction to 800 Ib/sq. ft for the design of the sheet-pilewall in berth 1 and the pile loads in berths 2 and 3 following representations by all three developers that the various modes of operation would neverentail stacking in the vicinity of the quay (5 58). The open deck structure is very sensitive to localized point loads, and design checks were carried out for combinations of fully loaded containers placed one high on the deck with adjacent fully loaded straddle carriers or tractor and trailer units. Special precautions had to be taken to ensure that excessive loads were not apRlied during erection of the container cranes. 185. MrBarlow referred to the Stelcon rafts used at Port Klang. These were considered very seriously for berth 1 but the initial cost would have been very much higher than for asphalt, and the developer considered that it would involve unacceptable constraints in the yard to have a maintenance crew resetting units to take up differential settlement. There was great concern about the safety implications of the limited visibility from the drivers cabin of a straddle carrier. 186. Mr Conway enquired about the eEects of temperature and oil on the asphalt. Delivered by ICEVirtualLibrary.com to: of hydraulic oil and this Some straddle carriers have a tendency to spill large quantities
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has resulted in deterioration of the surface. Nevertheless the asphalt is only now requiring partial resurfacing after it has been subjected to very intensive tracking with very high wheel loads, highly concentrated point loads from container corner castings, and alternating high surface temperatures under a tropical sun and intense rainfall for 5 years. 187. The procedure for preparing the yards for typhoons commences before the onset of the typhoon season. For straddle carrier and transtainer yards stockpiles of the vulnerable empty containers arelashed together and toground anchorsand are generally only unlashed when required for use. When a typhoon is approaching, yard activity is concentrated on servicing a ship so that it can sail clear of the storm, and rearranging remaining containers with heavily loaded ones on the top of each stack, especially near the exposed outer corners. As many containers as possible are lashed together and to ground anchors,but it is not realistic to lash down completely every time the strong wind signal (No. 3) is raised, as this would entail an unacceptable delay to operations. Experience to dateis limited but very fewproblems were encountered with 110 km/h winds. Studies have concentrated on devising simple procedures for creating a strong outerwall of inter-lashed heavily loaded containers. 188. Mr Codes description of the rapid progress with a blockwork wall at Doha is very interesting. It is not clear if that contract also incorporates all the services and infrustructure for a modern container terminal, and it is also not clear whether the physical conditions are comparable. With the conditions at Kwai Chung a blockwork wall would have required a great height of rock mound, and differential settlements would have been unacceptably high for the container cranes. As with virtually all construction work in Hong Kong the site conditiofls at Kwai Chung were so uncompromising that an initial reaction was to seek another site, but in Hong Kong there is usually not the land for alternative sites. 189. Mr Palmer enquired if anything would be done differently now. The development of berths 4 and 5 gave the opportunity for using the experience gained on berths 1, 2 and 3. The quay structure for berth 4 is basically a repetition of the design developed for berth 2 and 3 whereas the quay structure for berth 5, which had to be an open-deck structure to reduce wave reflexion, incorporates raking piles.
References 6. BERTLIN & PARTNERS. Port structures. National Ports Council, London 1970. INDUSTRY RESEARCH AND INFORMATXON ASSOCIATION. Quay wall 7. CONSTRUCTTON design. Research Project 160. Technical Note 54, CIRIA, London, 1974. 8. C O M M ~ FOR E WATERFRONT STRUCTURES. Recommendations. Wilhelm Ernst &

Sohn, Berlin (English translation). 9. ROWE P. W. Anchored sheet pile walls. Proc. Instn Ciu. Engrs, 1952, 1, Part 1, Jan., 27-70. 10. ROWE P. W. The flexibility characteristics of sheet pile walls. Struct. Engr, 1955, 33, 5, 150-158. P.W. Sheet pile walls encastre at the anchorage. Proc. Znstn Ciu. Engrs, 11. ROWE 1955,4, Part 1, Jan., 70-87. P. W. Sheet pile walls at failure. Proc. Instn Ciu. Engrs, 1956, 5, Part 1, 12. ROWE May, 27CL315. Proc. Midlands Soil Mechs Fndn 13. ROWEP. W. Limit design offlexiblewalls. Engng Soc., 1957, 1, Feb., 29-40. 14. ROWEP. W. Sheet pile walls in clay. Proc. Instn Ciu. Engrs, 1957, 7, July, 629. 15. GRUNBERG S . et al. Planning and civil engineering aspects of a new railway terminus in Hong Kong. Proc. Instn Ciu. Engrs, Part 1, 1976, 60, Nov., 617.
Corrigendum

In 5 25 of the Paper, for Larssen IV piles read Larssen V piles.

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