Technology

Container Terminals

Container terminals with very high loads

The pavements of container terminals are subject to very high loads.  The loads come from the containers (6m or 12m long) stacked up to some 7 high as well as from the reachstackers that move these containers.  These containers can weigh some 30ton and the reachstackers can have service weights exceeding 100ton.  The wheel load of a reachstacker can easily exceed 250kN which is extremely high compared to the 45kN per wheel which is the legal limit for trucks on South African roads.

 The very high loads imposed on container terminal pavements necessitate special design considerations.  ARQ has designed some of these pavements and has also been involved in forensic work where there have been failures.  One of the designs done by ARQ was for a container depot in Salt River Cape Town.  The site had low strength subgrades and high strength carbon fibre geosynthetics were used in the design to form the most economical solution.  This solution was at the time a first of its kind in South Africa.

Pictures are of the following:

• Forensic case – Reachstacker moving a 12m container
• Forensic case – Pavement which has failed
• Cape Town – Carbon fibre geosynthetic on a weak subgrade
• Cape Town – Measuring the deflections of a pavement