Discussion. The Design and Construction of the Ocean Terminal, Hong Kong.

Abstract

I would like to mention the salient points which arose during the designs, first, to arrange for efficient cargo handling to ensure a rapid turn-round of the ships, second, to provide ample space for processing passengers and tourists, and thirdly, to provide amenities to attract shoppers and local residents.88. In 1970 the records show 388 ships berthed at the terminal, made up of 103 passenger ships, 10 cruise liners, 254 cargo ships, and 21 container ships, these only for four months, as since then they have been using No. 5 wharf. Passengers recorded were 15 000, and there were 53 million visitors. Cargo imported was 40 000 tons, and exported 280 000 tons.89. One of the main difficulties in planning was that potential lessees, faced with a proposal which was new and to them rather speculative, were very slow in making up their minds what they wanted. We had therefore to keep the planning very flexible: even at the end there were still changes which had to be made. This was all in the superstructure, and it showed more clearly almost every day the advantage of the Contractor's design in separating the deck structures from the superstructure because it gave the clients several months longer in which to settle the final details of the letting.90. It has proved very popular to local people, as about 115 000 persons visited the terminal each week. M r D. L. Pope, Bertlin & PartnersAt one time I was employed by Taylor Woodrow on the construction of the Ocean Terminal. For someone who was concerned with this project at very close quarters on site, the day-to-day problems were very acute from my point of view. It is therefore very revealing to have a Paper like this which puts the whole problem into perspective.92. However, the Paper compresses a large project into a short space, and I think that in one or two instances the Authors have erred on the side of being too concise. In particular, the question of the provision of independent foundations for the jetty deck and the superstructure which is stated in !j 25 as having the following advantages:(a) the client and the lessees could delay until the last possible moment decisions (b) the problems of differential settlement between the jetty and the super-(c) the deck structure can be kept shallow and out of the tidal range.on the layout of the superstructure; structure would be minimized ; 93. The layout of the columns was determined in advance, and I would suggest that since the deadload must be a very large proportion of the load on the columns, it would only be a very small number of columns where the final design load was not known in advance. So this cannot really have been an important criterion.94. So far as differential settlement is concerned, if the whole structure was carried on one foundation system, there would not have been any problem. However, by