Pavimento

HEAVY-DUTY PAVEMENT PROCUREMENT MIT PANAMA
EXPERIENCE
Kumar, V.K. and Jiménez, J.
PE, Berger/ABAM Engineers, Inc. E-mail: kumar@abam.com and jimenez@abam.com
ABSTRACT
Manzanillo International Terminals (MIT), located on the Caribbean side of Panama, is a fastgrowing container terminal in the Americas. The terminal, which opened for business in April
1994, is now handling more than onemillion 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per year. The
terminal’s first phase consisting of 24 hectares of Portland cement concrete paving was completed
in late 1995. Within four years of its construction, large areas of the container yard underwent
settlement of up to 30 cm, which resulted in severe cracking and spalling damage to the pavement.
Portions of the pavement were so badly deterioratedthat they had to be replaced to prevent
accidents. Based on business growth demands, in 1998 MIT began planning a 16-hectare expansion
of the terminal. The expansion added new berths and container yard to a dredge spoil area to the
south. Ground preparation for the expansion consisted of an extensive wick drain and surcharge
program, which was devised to accelerate the settlement process. Toimprove performance and
reduce maintenance, concrete block paving (CBP) was chosen for the heavy-duty container yard
and was designed for rubber-tire gantry (RTG) and container top pick loading. This paper describes
a coordinated approach designed for the ground preparation and pavement construction of the
Phase II, 8-hectare container yard, as well as lessons learned in the construction ofPanama’s first
heavy-duty CBP project.
1. INTRODUCTION
MIT is a privately financed, built, and operated container terminal in the city of Colón in the
Republic of Panama. The terminal, which takes its name from the bay, is owned and operated by
Seattle, Washington-based Stevedoring Services of America and their Panamanian partners.
Construction of the Phase I terminal was completed in 1995.Figure 1 shows the yard improvements
in 1995. The 24-hectare Phase I pavement was procured in two distinct methods. The first part,
identified as Phase I-A (about 14 hectares) was procured on a design/build basis. The designer and
constructor had no previous experience in heavy-duty paving. The site was poorly prepared with
uncontrolled filling and inadequate compaction. The designer employed 30-cmreinforced concrete
paving for most of the areas and 25-cm unreinforced concrete paving for areas that had older
sections of concrete paving underneath. Within four years of its construction, parts of the area
underwent settlement of up to 30 cm and displayed severe cracking and spalling. Some of these
areas showed crazing and cracking of the concrete even before any terminal operationsbegan. Poor
performance of the pavement was a result of inadequate subgrade preparation and a poor concrete
mix, compounded by the incessant rainfall (over 800 cm per year) and high-cycle loading by top
picks. Portions of the pavement were so badly deteriorated that they had to be replaced to prevent
accidents.
The second part of Phase I identified as Phase I-B (about 10 hectares) was procured ona
design/bid/build basis. BERGER/ABAM Engineers Inc. designed this part with assistance from
paving specialists.
Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Concrete Block Paving (PAVE AFRICA 2003)
ISBN Number: 0-958-46091-4
Proceedings produced by: Document Transformation Technologies

12th – 15th October 2003
Sun City, South Africa
Conference Organised by: Conference PlannersConstruction documents (drawings and specifications) were prepared and bid to Panamanian and
U.S. contractors. The contract was awarded to an experienced Panamanian contractor who had
successfully completed several road and pavement projects in Central America. The paving design,
consisting of a 30-cm plain concrete section over a 25-cm gravel base, was placed over a wellcompacted subgrade....