BergerWorld: 3rd Quarter 2007

Long before the colonization of the Americas, the area where the Port of Boston is located served as a trading post for indigenous tribes. With the founding of the city in 1630, a port was established to import essential goods from England. Nearly 400 years later, the port remains the largest in Massachusetts, as well as a principal U.S. port. In 2006, the Port of Boston handled more than 14 million metric tons of cargo, including 201,000 TEUs. The Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport), which has managed the port since 1956, commissioned the Berger Group to provide a range of planning and engineering services at Boston's busy waterfront.

The Black Falcon Cruise Terminal is the leading passenger facility within Boston, annually handling more than 100 ocean-going cruise ships and 200,000 passengers. Berger experts prepared traffic management plans for various berthing events at the terminal, including establishing travel patterns and parking for passenger drop off and pick up, taxi waiting areas and tour bus parking for as many as five ships simultaneously docked at the Black Falcon Terminal. These plans provided guidelines to be followed throughout the cruise season, defining where ships would berth during multi-ship events, as well as the traffic and parking patterns. Berger also improved local signage to assist in the movement of vehicles around the port and conducted an emergency inspection of loose and falling concrete in building areas A through D, where disembarking passengers are processed. The areas required concrete removal and/or shielding with corrugated metal formwork. Because the terminal recently installed a new handicap compliant gangway on the southeast apron of the pier, Berger prepared plans and cost estimates for the removal of the original gangway. Based on current and anticipated shipping trends, the Team also provided recommendations to improve the fender system.

Conley Container Terminal is the nucleus of Boston's cargo handling network. With four Post-Panamax container gantry cranes and 45-feet-deep berths, Conley can service the largest container ships in service on the Atlantic

Ocean, enabling even the most demanding shippers and lines to move cargo in and out of the port at speeds equivalent to those of the biggest ports on the North Atlantic. Berger examined the existing lighting system at Conley Terminal and developed plans to reduce glares at adjacent sites while allowing the lighting to be controlled during periods of port inactivity. Berger also evaluated pavement failures at the terminal and developed repair procedures for locations adjacent to the hides area, where containers loaded with leather hides are placed when unloaded from a ship, and areas where tire pressure has caused rutting below the MGM cranes, used to lift containers from ships. Additionally, the Team provided emergency repairs to concrete damaged by ship berthing. Berger also provided repair guidance and specifications for damaged rubber-tyred gantry (RTG) cranes, as well as plans for the removal of existing underground fuel tanks and the construction of a fuel island adjacent to the current operations building at the terminal. Finally, Berger evaluated Conley's existing back-up power supply system and established performance criteria for a new system.

The Berger Group also assisted Massport develop studies, conceptual plans and renderings for the siting of a 3,000- to 5,000-car parking garage at Moran Autoport; evaluated damaged pier bumpers at Berth 12 and recommended repairs to the bumpers; identified problems at the ice house on Fish Pier and recommended necessary repairs; and provided designs and cost estimates for the removal and relocation of an underground tank.