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US WICK DRAIN a Leland NC based company has just completed the largest marine barge installation wick drain project that has ever been done in the world. This project is part of the first phases of construction for a new port facility at “Craney Island” in Norfolk Virginia. US WICK DRAIN under direction of president Mark Palmatier installed 12,150,000 lf of wick drains in 6 months using the APE wick drain installation machines.

Now that’s 6 months with 2 rigs 24 hours a day 6 days a week! That’s a lot of wick drains. The longest wick drains were 150 ft. in length. Great Lakes dredging dumped a drainage layer of sand in the proposed wick drain area with hopper barges. The wicks will be placed and more sand dumped on top of them.

In order to place the wick drains in the correct locations on the water 2 barges had to be converted to have a grid all the way through the decks of the barges using steel pipe from the top deck all the way through the bottom. Each barge had a wick drain machine / rig on the deck. The barges would be surveyed into position and secured in position, and then each machine would go down the deck installing a wick drain in each provided hole.

Once these wick drains are installed and pre-loaded the engineers predict they will have about 21 feet of settlement. These wicked areas will support a series of dikes for the new Craney Island port. If wick drains were not used the dikes would constantly be settling and would have to be maintained at a large cost. This project gives US WICK DRAIN the most marine experience in the wick drain industry. APE looks forward to working with US WICK DRAIN on the next phases of the Craney island port. If you have a current or upcoming job contact your nearest APE branch to see just how much APE can offer to you. GO APE.

APE has managed to catch the attention of Mexican Contractors regardless of the long term presence of other manufacturers such as ICE, PTC, BAUER/PILECO.

APE ha logrado captivar la atención de los Constratistas Mexicanos apesar de la larga presencia de otras marcas como ICE, PTC, y BAUER/PILECO.

Ever since our entry into the market on December 2010, APE have managed to provide the right equipment solutions for complex infrastructure such as:

Desde que entramos en el mercado en Diciembre del 2010, APE a logrado proveer soluciones de equipo para complejos proyectos de infraestructura tales como:

• The Construction of a Distribution Facility of a Natural Gas Terminal (Rental of APE D50 Diesel Impact Hammer for 7 months)
• La Construcción de la Terminal de Distribución de Gas Natural, Tuxpan, Veracruz (Renta de Martillo de Impacto Diesel modelo D50 por 7 meses)
• The Expansion of the Container Terminal for Port of Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico (Rental of 200-6 for 5 months)
• La Expasión de la Terminal de Contenedores del Puerto de Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico (Renta de APE modelo 2006- por 5 meses)
• The Construction of a New Major Naucalpan-Ecatepec Expressway accross Mexico, City (Rental of four (4) APE 200 vibros for 6 months each)
• La Construcción de la Nueva Autopista Naucalpan-Ecatepec inteseca la Cuidad de México (Renta por 4 meses de 4 vibrohincadores por 6 meses)
• The Construction of a New Marina in Los Cabos, Mexico (Sell of an APE 170 Variable Moment Vibro)
• La Construcción de la Nueva Marina en Los Cabos, Baja California, México (Venta de un APE 170VM de Frecuencia Variable)
• The Construction of a Walmart in Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico (Rental of APE 150T for 4 months)
• La Construcción de un Walmart en VIllahermosa, Tabasco, México (Renta de un APE 150T por 4 meses)
• The Construction of Shafts for Línea 12 Underground Train Project in Mexico City (Rental of APE 150T for 6 months)
• La Construcción de Túneles para el Tren Subterráneo de la Línea 12 en Ciudad de México (Renta del APE 150T por 6 meses)
• The Expansion of Port of Veracruz, Mexico (Rent of JM 66-80 & JM 416 vibros)
• Expansión del Puerto de Veracruz, México (Renta de JM 66-80 & JM 416)
• The Construction of a Mining Facility, Baja California, Mexico (Rent of APE 400 vibro)
• La Construcción de una Terminal de Minerales, Baja California, México (Renta de un APE 400 vibro)

APE was also a proud Sponsor and Organizer of the 1st Deep Foundations Symposium ever to be organized between the Deep Foundations Institute (www.dfi.org)  and the Society of Mexican Geo-technical Engineers (www.smig.org.mx) back in November 2011 with an assistance of 325 people.

APE también participó como patrocinador y organizador del Primer Simposium de Cimentación Profunda jamás antes organizado entre el Instituto de Cimentación Profunda y la Sociedad Mexicana de Ingenieros Geotécnicos en Noviembre 2011, la cuál tuvo una asistencia de 325 personas.

It is APE’s goal for 2012 to triple our presence in Mexico and to establish local service, parts, and support to cater for Mexican Contractors looking to switch to the World’s Leader Manufacturer of Piledriving Equipment: APE and J&M.

Es la meta de APE para el año 2012 triplicar su presencia en México y establecer servicio, partes, y apoyo local para atender las necesidades de los contratistas Mexicanos buscando cambiarse a la Marca Líder a Nivel Mundial de Equipos para Cimentación: APE y J&M.

Local distributors are also welcome to call for distributorship opportunities in Mexico.

Distribuidores locales son bienvenidos a contactarnos para oportunidades de representación.

Best Wishes to All for this New Year 2012!

Mis Mejores Deseos para Todos para este Nuevo Año 2012!

Franki Segura, MBA
Business Developer for APE Mexico
Cell: +1-786-991-687
frankis@apevibro.com

On December 8th 2011, the APE “OctaKong” hammer drove it’s final pile to grade in front of a crowd of 200 people on the South China Sea.  Many Engineers, officials, contractors, and China T.V. Stations came to witness the final pile drive to grade.  In total, 120 piles were used to create the east and west man-made islands for the HongKong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge project.  The largest pile was 72 feet in diameter, 180 feet high, and 660 US tons.  The entire project lasted just under 7 months, an incredibly fast time to make two full island foundations.  ZPMC, the Shanghai based company who fabricated the piles, could hardly keep up pile production with the driving speed of the project.  At the fastest point the OctaKong drove 6 piles in 3 days.  One of the biggest challenges of the East island was learning how to drive 72 foot diameter piles in complex soil conditions.  When driving large diameter piles the soil conditions on one side of the pile can be very different than on the other side of the pile.  At some points the right side of the pile was facing N47+ soil while the left side only saw only N15.  Soil layers are not flat, which is not usually not a problem when driving small diameter piles, but when faced with super large piles often times one full side of the pile will cut through a soil layer for 10 feet before the other side of the pile hits the same layer.  This creates a big challenge when trying to get the pile to go into the soil perfectly straight.  These new challenges forced us to learn a new pile driving method specific to large diameter piles.  No doubt a huge step for the pile driving industry for the future of even larger bridges, land reclamation, and wind power.

It was a surreal feeling to watch the last pile go into the ground after nearly 2 years of research and planning.   As the pile reached it’s final feet many surrounding boats launched fireworks and large cheering could be heard as soon as the machine was shut off.  It’s not very common in Chinese culture to see grown business men and engineers hugging and shouting, but as the OctaKong drove it’s last few feet I think it sent overwhelming joy throughout everybody who’s worked on the project, including myself.  The timeline for this project was so tight that tensions were high for the last 7 months.  I think everybody knew that if the OctaKong hammer broke for whatever reason the entire project had no chance to finish on time, and with no backup hammer, APE China felt the heat to make sure the project kept going smoothly.  I’m glad to report that the OctaKong hammer never had even one day of downtime, something our APE team should be very proud of.  The APE 200-6 tandem special is driving the final 37 foot shell-pile-walls over the next week and that project should conclude soon as well.  Thank you to everybody who worked so hard on this project!

We are working on a 30 minute documentary for this project with some pretty amazing video and pictures.  Please stay tuned for that to be released soon!

Should you have any specific questions about this project, I invite you to e-mail me or call at anytime.  Phone: 253-872-0141  E-mail: stevec@apevibro.com

At APE today we are taking a moment to recognize one our most important vendors, Fastenal. They are responsible for many of the parts involved in putting together a diesel impact hammer, vibratory driver extractor etc. Jim Winn is our Fastenal representative at the APE headquarters here in Kent WA. For the most part he’s an all around good guy, especially when he went down to Florida for a Fastenal convention and had a chance to get a picture and autograph with Carl Edwards. For those who don’t know, Carl Edwards is the 2nd place driver in the Sprint Cup Series, following Tony Stewart. Jim Winn took his opportunity with Carl Edwards and got him to take a photograph with him holding a sign saying “GO APE!”. All of us at APE have to say (including Wayne), that’s pretty cool Jim, much appreciated!

Sprint Cup Series Rankings: http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2011/data/standings.html

Pacific Pile and Marine drives 5 foot diameter casing over 200 ft in length with company owned D100-42 for the Alaska Way Viaduct temporary detour off ramps. These ramps are ahead of the new underground tunnel that will be placed under downtown Seattle to replace the old viaduct. There will be 28 piles driven for the ramp pictured in this article. APE offers the only true D-series hammer available on the market.  The efficiency and reliability of the D-series single acting impact hammers have been in service since the early 40’s building the world’s infrastructure.  When a contractor needs reliability they call on APE Equipment.

Costa Fortuna has taken delivery of  new APE 200T with a 700 HP Power unit for use in the town of Almerim, Brazil on the Amazon River. Our long time Customer is driving 800 and 1200 mm Pipe Pile for Electric Transmission Tower bases, the overall height of the Towers will be 280 meters.

The Pipe Pile are 48 meters long and are driven to 150 ton capacity with some Pile testing over 360 tons. The Pile are started with the APE 200T / 700 and finished with a APE D50-42 Diesel Hammer, in some cases the pile are taken almost to grade and then set checked with the D50-42 to prove Bearing Capacity.

Michele Corda the Equipment Manager for Costa Fortuna was very impressed with the patented APE  two – stage suppressor Housing and it’s ability to dampen Vibration back to their new Liebherr Crane. While using their much older Foster 4150 Vibro the Crane computer would shut down due to the excessive Vibration from the old style Suppressor, not only did that shut down problem stop with the APE 200T but it also outdrove the heavier 4150 with ease at much lower fuel use.

EP Jarrett Foundation Construction is all about quality. Every project that they tackle is a job worth seeing. They do their work with precision and they use APE as their foundation equipment supplier because APE delivers precision equipment.

Working on a Caltrans project on HWY 165 just North of Los Banos California Mike and Ed Cuneo tackle a job with some interesting parameters. Working off of a failed existing structure while using heavy equipment is enough to make anyone work softly, especially when working at the limit. The Cuneo boys from EP Jarrett are up for the challenge. Installing 36” diameter CISS pile 130’ deep, using an APE D100-42 diesel hammer while working off of a scoured bridge was a challenge that is never taken lightly, and EP Jarrett Foundation went at it with precision.

The piles got started with an APE 200 Vibratory Driver Extractor with caisson beam and clamps ensuring the exact location of the CISS pile. After the APE 200 Vibratory Driver Extractor finished its job the D100-42 single acting diesel hammer took over to finish the driving of the 130’ long 36” diameter pipe pile, then the pipe was drilled out 100’ deep and the rebar cage was dropped into position ready to be filled with concrete.

At the end of the day, when the sun goes down, The gang from EP Jarrett can go home with pride in a job well done!

When “American Infrastructure” was awarded the new highway 15 bridge in Chester Virginia the existing large overhead power lines looked awful low. They scratched their heads as they kept looking at the headroom situation and how they were going to get machinery under them to drive the piles… can’t do anything till the piles are driven… right?

The management staff knew if any company could help them with this situation it was APE / American Piledriving Equipment. They contacted Jimmy Deemer APE’s Mid-Atlantic manager to come to the jobsite and have a look at what the jobsite conditions were and what recommendations he could make. After looking things over with the onsite staff the only solution was using an excavator. Along with APE’s in house engineering staff & head engineer Joe K they came up with a very productive & slick system. They decided to use one of the APE low-head room hammers. They chose one of the 7.5 series hammers the 7.5C

APE designed a self-contained system with the APE 7.5C hammer, 30’ of APE 21” leads with a 2 line headblock and a hydraulic sled that mounts directly to the tip of a 345 CAT excavator. The hydraulic sled that mates up to the back of the leads has tilt cylinders built into it for the side to side batters they needed to drive. It also batters fore & aft. All functions are run off the excavators hydraulic system “plug & play” This system can do it all!

Part of the design incorporated a Gear master hydraulic winch on the back of the sled for hoisting the hammer & piles. This is run with a foot control form inside the cab of the excavator. The piles are a taper tube MONOTUBE style pile. They pre-drill the 1st 15’ and set & seat the pile 17 foot tater bottom. Then they weld the second section a 20’ mid and drive it and then splice & drive the 3rd and last another 20’ mid or top .

They will drill & set about 15 piles in one set-up. This system is extremely quick & productive and all aspects of safety are incorporated into it. The onsite supervision staff said “We had no idea this low head room nightmare could have worked out so well “That’s why APE has a registered trademark “when a piledriver talks we listen”. We wish American Infrastructure’s Highway 15 job a safe & productive project. Don’t wait till your piledriving job has you backed in to a corner, start off on the right foot… contact your nearest APE branch and see all we can offer to you ! GO APE!

When American Bridge was awarded the NOAA seawall project in beautiful downtown Norfolk Virginia it seemed like a cut & dry type job. Some pre demolition of the existing structure, install a new steel sheet pile wall and form & pour a cast in place concrete cap. There were some out of the ordinary composite “harbortech” Dolphin piles that had to be installed for the final phase of the marine construction.

Keith Hall, construction manager for American Bridge has driven thousands of piles of all types in his life time. These were somewhat different from what he’d dealt with in the. Keith contacted the Mid-Atlantic branch of APE to see what we could look at to install these piles.

APE has a line of “low-head room” impact hammers that were designed for very low head room applications. These are called the APE 7.5 series. The 7.5 stands for the height of the hammer 7-1/2 feet. Contractors have found out through the years these are the best tool for lowhead room applications, but also for standard jobs as well.

There are 3 versions of these and they are identified by a A, B, & C series. The 7.5A has the heavier ram, 12,000 lbs. of the 3 the 7.5C has the lightest ram 7.600 lbs. and it comes standard to fit in 21” leads. The “B” has a 10,200 lb. ram come standard to fit 26” leads.

Keith & Jimmy Deemer of APE Mid-Atlantic chose the smallest of the 3 for this application, the 7.5C Hydraulic Impact Hammer. We mated this with an APE small pipe pile insert and 60’ of 8” x 21” leads and this combination worked great! I don’t know how we would have done this without this APE hammer. These are not your ordinary dolphin piles said Keith Hall.

Contact your local APE branch for information on these 7.5 hammers, APE is the only ones in the piledriving industry that can offer these lowhead room hammers to you. They can be handled with an APE forklift sled or many other means of lift applications.

We wish Keith Hall & American Bridge a safe & productive project… GO APE!

A new APE 170VM has been spotted in Los Cabos, Mexico taking the sun and driving contention walls for a very exclusive new Marina called Cabo Rivera . GITSA purchased the latest Variable Moment Vibratory Hammer technology to drive 3800 concrete sheets of 12m length x 1m wide x 90 cm thickness to build the contention walls for the man-made-islands where the new Marina DreamHomes will be constructed. The APE 170VM with 2,250 in/lb of eccentric variable moment and our newly designed octakong inspired concrete sheet clamp takes concrete sheet driving to a new level. The newly designed APE concrete sheet clamp attachment covers more area, transmits more energy, and has better grip than the old 2 cylinder concrete sheet clamp. Not even one sheet broke or fractured! Very soft fine sands made the driving difficult, but nothing watter jetting and slow driving (1350 RPM) with high amplitude could not overcome. Gladly, the APE 170VM allowed us to control the speed and amplitude infinitely with the phase in/phase out feature, high/low turbo, and the governor features.

The additional training & support provided by our technician Daniel Parke helped increase the contrator’s and pilebuck’s confidence in the equipment and in 2 days they went from 3 sheets to 6-7 sheets per day. I am sure they will double their production ones they get more comfortable with the equipment. We look forward to working with GITSA in the near future.