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Imperial Oil, a division company of Exxon Mobile, approved the first phase of the Kearl Oil Sands Project back in 2009. This $8 billion phase of the project is proposed to produce approximately 110,000-barrels-per-day of crude bitumen; a tar-like form of petroleum.  In the later years, this project will provide the energy needs of North America with 4.6 billion barrels of recoverable bitumen.  If you take a jump and a skip north east of Fort McMurray in Alberta, CA you will end up at the Kearl Lake region of Alberta along the Athabasca River. Here, Kiewit drove nearly 1,650 PS-31 sheet piles back in 2010, which provided cofferdam cells for the construction of a pump house to feed the main water plant. They used the APE 200-6 vibro to drive these sheets constantly in below freezing temperatures. Presently, they are in the process of removing 1,200 of the PS-31s- most of which have been sitting for over eight months. Those whom are well versed in the art of pile driving know that extracting piles are sometimes more strenuous than driving them- the PS-31 sheets were no exception to this matter. Prior to the removal of these sheets, Kiewit sought the expertise of our APE employees. We, of course, answered with a few extraction plans, which helped Kiewit remove 35 sheet pairs in a 10 hour shift on their best day. Currently, Kiewit is using one 200-6 vibratory hammer to extract the piles, while a second vibro sits on stand-by as a back -up hammer. Kiewit is nearing the completion of the sheet pile extraction phase and I feel I speak on behalf of all of us here at APE when I say that we are all excited, as well as proud to see this project through the end.

On Sunday, May 15th 2011, at 5pm the world’s largest vibratory hammer drove the world’s largest pile in 7 and a half minutes! American Piledriving Equipment, Inc with cooperation with First Harbor Engineering Communications Bureau drove the first pile for the East island for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge. The first pile was 72 feet in diameter, 131 feet tall, and 500 US tons. The first pile took about 3 hours to place into the exact correct position. The difficultly level of the placement was due to the fact that not only did the pile need to be in the exact correct GPS location, it also needed to be face the correct degree to line up the interlocks on each side of the pile. Later this week the first 37 foot wide shell-pile-walls will be driven in between two of the 72 foot diameter piles. Tensions were very high for the last week as many preparations were needed to get ready for Sunday’s main event. Over 40 top engineers participated in the coordinating of the driving procedure. Everybody was separated into many different teams with a total of 60 people involved directly to making sure the first pile drove successfully.

In addition, most of the top engineers for the bridge project, safety administration, environmental protection agencies, government officials, and top level engineers from the China Construction Communications Bureau came to watch the first pile go into the ground. Over 8 boats and 3 ships were in the vicinity to witness the historic operation. Number 3 marine also had a sand-pile-ship nearby that moved closer to allow for more people to stand and watch. Over 200 people came to see the first pile be driven. Prior to the drive many fireworks were lit off on all the surrounding boats and ships including a ship owned by competitor Number 3 Marine Bureau to wish the project luck.

Jerry Cors (Production manager for APE and the Octa-Kong) myself (MD of APE China and technical lead for the Octa-Kong and Shell-pile-wall project) , Mr. Yang Yun Fu (APE China’s engineer) , Mr. Derek Hu (APE China’s assembly manager) , and Steve Gough (International sales for APE USA and head of China sales) were present to run the machine and verify all went smooth. It was a sight to see and I hope to post more information about the project on the APE CHINA website, including a video of the operation (www.apevibro.cn). I have also made the APE China site in both Chinese and English for better communication. Congratulations to all who were involved! and Congratulations to APE USA.

I want to give a special thank you to everybody who worked on this project and made this day possible.

Have you ever had been faced with a vibratory hammer job where the vibration from the hammer does alot of damage to the surounding structures or soils? How about historical buildings or inside plants or mills or around housing areas that are considered extremly vibration sensitive areas? Well APE has the answer! APE’s complete line of Variable Moment vibratory hammers.

The APE branches around the world can help you size & choose the right variable moment vibratory hammer to fit your projects needs. From the smallest the APE 120VM to the largest APE 250VM we have you covered.

These hammers are known and recommended by agencies like The US Army Corps of Engineers, All of the D.O.T agencies across the USA as well as all branches of the milatery. Customers can’t belive what they can do with virtualy no surounding vibration! As these hammers become more known by the piledriving industry the demand is more and more.  Contact your local APE branch if you think you have a upcoming job that this will be the tool of choice. GO APE!