US Wick Drain awarded record-breaking contract in Charleston

US Wick Drain, part of Menard Group USA, is starting off the year with a record-breaking contract. The company is installing 28 million linear feet of wick drains to expedite the consolidation of the compressible clays prior to construction of Charleston’s new Hugh K. Leatherman, Sr. Container Terminal (formerly known as the Naval Base Terminal). This project marks the largest volume by linear feet of wick drains ever installed in the United States.

The construction of the new terminal is part of a ten-year, $1.3 billion capital plan and modernization project to make the Port of Charleston one of the largest and most modern ports of the Eastern Seaboard.

“This is a project that really shows our ability to mobilize and execute our work on a large scale,” said Aaron Goldberg, Business Development Manager, US Wick Drain. “We are installing more than 375,000 wick drains using multiple rigs over the next several months– with another large project about to begin in New Orleans – so we’re off to a great start this year.”

US Wick Drain’s portion of the work began in late February 2016 and will continue throughout 2016. The overall port expansion project is expected to be completed in 2019.

The Menard group develops foundation solutions based on ground improvement and reinforcement technologies. Its treatments eliminate the need for the deep foundations traditionally used to support surface structures.

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