Blakeslee Arpaia & Chapman Reaches For An APE
Reported From: APE Northeast (NJ)
Blakeslee Arpaia & Chapman was founded over 160 years ago and has evolved into a multi-faceted company that is often asked to tackle challenging projects that require unique solutions.
Recently they were asked to drive h-piles at a Connecticut refinery for a gas pipeline relocation. The only problem was that the pipeline was to be routed along the edge of the shoreline in an area where getting heavy equipment into was impossible. This meant that the piles would need to be driven from the water. However the water was shallow, even at high tide, and was too shallow to allow any work to be done at low tide.
Because the water level was only high enough for a barge at high tide, a barge with a large crane would have to be floated in and all of the work would have to be done while the tide was high. The barge would then need to be taken out to deeper water at low tide.
However, a crane, even a large one, has its limits when boomed out such a distance. This created a problem with coming up with a hammer and leads to drive the pile. Blakeslee Arpaia & Chapman approached APE with this dilema and the solution recommended was an APE D8 diesel hammer in 21″ leads. This combination gave them a driving system that was light enough to allow them to reach from a barge to drive the h-piles on shore with their Manitowoc 3950 crane.
