Building the Trans Mountain Expansion Project—Westridge Marine Terminal

The Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMEP) is one of the largest infrastructure projects ever undertaken in western Canada, with a capital cost in excess of $21 Billion USD ($30 Billion CAD). It represents a project of vital strategic national interest to Canada, connecting landlocked oil reserves in Alberta to tidewater near Vancouver, BC. The project involves twinning an existing 715 mi (1,150 km) pipeline between northern Alberta and the pipeline terminus at the Westridge Marine Terminal (WMT) in Burrard Inlet, BC. The WMT comprises three new vessel loading berths, each capable of accommodating up to 140,000 t (125,000 DWT) Aframax vessels. The new berths triple the oil export capacity of the existing terminal, which has operated at Westridge since the 1950s. The new berths had to be built immediately adjacent to the original berth without causing disruption to the ongoing operations. After more than 6 years of construction, the WMT was completed in May 2024. The construction process followed one of the most lengthy and complex federal and provincial regulatory processes in Canadian History. The project approvals included 156 mandatory Conditions enforced by the Canada Energy Regulator, many of which were focused on reducing the environmental impacts of construction. This paper focusses on the construction contract project delivery method and some of the construction strategies used on the project. An Early Contractor Involvement delivery model was used whereby the Owner selected a construction Contractor during the design process and directed the engineering Consultants to work closely with the Contractor to ensure the design was optimized to suit the Contractor’s preferred means and methods. Extensive mitigation measures were put in place during construction to reduce the impact on the surrounding communities and aquatic environment, and an extensive artificial reef was constructed within the project footprint to offset or compensate for habitat impacts. The marine construction techniques used on the project were highly technical in nature due to the scale of the project, the size of the individual components, the depth of the water, the poor soil conditions, environmental restrictions, and installation tolerances. Overcoming these challenges required extensive marine construction engineering and significant coordination between the construction and design teams. The pile jackets for the mooring and berthing dolphins weighed up to 360 t (326 tonnes), and the equipment used to deliver the project and install the jackets included the largest heavy lift derrick barge on the west coast of North America. Installation of the 24 jackets required a sophisticated template that was able to accommodate three different pile diameters, twice daily 16 ft (5 m) tidal changes, and meet a pile installation tolerance of 3 in. (75 mm). Water depths of over 78 ft (24 m) required that the piles be spliced while in the template so driving could progress. The heaviest piles lifted were 240 ft (73 m) long and weighed up to 154 t (170 tonnes), which had to be tripped off the end of the barge to accommodate the limited boom length for the heavy lift derrick barge. Multiple examples of interesting and challenging marine construction engineering designs and innovations will be covered in this paper.

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