Surbana Jurong honoured for land reclamation work at Phase 1 of Tuas mega port project and construction of A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport Hangar
Singapore, 26 January 2023 – Surbana Jurong Group was conferred two Prestigious Engineering Achievement awards by the Institute of Engineering Society (IES) recently. SJ’s coastal engineering team and the Maritime Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) were recognised for their innovative engineering design and environmentally sustainable solutions in the design and delivery of the first phase of Tuas Port (TPP1), Singapore’s mega port. KTP Consultants Pte Ltd, a member of SJ Group, was the civil and structural engineer for the A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport Hangar, another project which won the Prestigious Engineering Achievement award.
The awards were announced at the 56th IES Annual Dinner on 17 Jan 2023.
“In terms of project size and complexities, the Tuas mega port project ranks as the biggest and most challenging of the coastal engineering projects handled jointly by Surbana Jurong and MPA to-date,” said Mr Seah Kim Huah, Surbana Jurong’s Deputy CEO (Infrastructure).
Works on TPP1, the first of four phases, began in March 2015. These comprised soil improvement works for 414 hectares of land, which included 294 hectares (about the size of 412 football fields) of newly reclaimed land. In addition, 221 10-storey high caissons, large watertight chambers in which construction work can be carried out under water, were fabricated and installed to form 8.6km of seawall. Seabeds were also deepened to cater for larger ships of the future.
When fully developed by 2040, the Tuas next-generation maritime hub would be the largest fully automated containerised terminal at a single location in the world.
The team’s solutions focussed on several priorities including protecting the port against climate change, creating a more efficient and safer working environment, strengthening the foundation of the port, and overcoming challenges in sourcing for armour rocks from overseas.
A key innovation includes raising the original design port platform level to cater for rising sea levels in future.
Concrete caissons were designed and manufactured in a controlled environment on site, to ensure that the consistency of concrete quality and strength were maintained. This resulted in a safe and comfortable work site and an early completion of caissons about six months ahead of schedule. Workers’ exposure to mechanical hazards were reduced by using fully automated rebar bending and cutting machine integrated with a synchronised robotic arm for caisson casting. Additionally, the use of prefabricated concrete slabs at caisson base protects the port foundation against the scouring effect when container ships berth alongside its quay walls.
The team also took steps to ensure that works were environmentally sustainable, resulting in substantial savings of about S$1.0 billion in reclamation costs. To reduce the carbon footprint of importing fill, the team recycled dredged seabed material and land-excavated material into reclamation filling, caisson infilling, and shore protection. The team also safeguarded the existing ecology and biodiversity of nearby Jurong Island and Sultan Shoal by advanced planning and relocating hard coral colonies to three sites at St John’s and Sisters’ Islands.
“We are privileged to partner with MPA and all parties involved in this once-in-a-lifetime effort to realise the dream of this next-generation Port of the Future. This will help secure the economic future of Singapore, especially in an increasingly competitive global environment,” said Mr Seah.
KTP Consultants was the Civil & Structural Engineering Consultant in the construction of the Republic of Singapore Air Force’s A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport aircraft hangar.
The hangar featured a panelled fabric door that allowed sunlight to permeate through, minimising the need for additional lighting. To compensate for the structural challenge of having a large front opening for the fabric door, KTP worked with the limited space within the fabric door support to build a truss structure that strengthened the lateral stability of the building’s minor axis.
KTP’s innovative and environmentally sustainable structural engineering solutions contributed to the project attaining the Building and Construction Authority Green Mark Platinum (Positive Energy) Certification.
