Capability Statement

Our 'Canti-Traveller' is a purpose-built temporary mobile platform that facilitates fast, safe, low-impact construction of piled marine jetties and piers.

The innovative system, designed and fabricated by our in-house team, provides a platform for progressively installing new piles, propelling itself along the new jetty alignment using hydraulics. 

A piling gate fixed to the front of the Traveller allows pitching and driving of piles in a vertical position. If required it can be used to install raking piles using the gate’s hydraulics.  The piling gate also provides a working platform for cutting piles and welding headstocks.  Bent spacing can extend to 27 m, and it has a system for changing direction. The traveller supports a 450 tonne crawler crane, if required.

One of the primary advantages of the Canti-Traveller is its minimal ecological impact, not touching the earth except for the permanent piles it both drives and sits atop. Removing the need for marine-borne plant, it also operates independently of marine conditions, offering significant program and cost certainty.  This makes the Canti-traveller particularly effective in design and construct projects where the program can be optimized for maximum efficiency. 

We have a proven track record of successful installations in environmentally sensitive areas and a reputation for delivering safe, efficient, marine solutions for our customers. The Canti-Traveller reinforces our leadership in marine innovation and construction. 

Click on the video to see the Canti-Traveller in action (Hint: It's yellow!). Click here for a more detailed specification.

Our marine engineering specialists are always on the lookout for ways to minimise the impact of our works on sensitive environments, and a recent example comes from the New Bridgewater Bridge Project in Tasmania.

The project involves a new 1,300 m long bridge built across the River Derwent. The bridge is being erected from a temporary access platform, which crosses shallow tidal mudflats that have significant environmental, cultural and heritage importance. The temporary access platform allows continuous access for delivery and lifting of segments along the bridge alignment

The initial design for the temporary access platform included piles, but this approach was deemed to have significant environmental, cost and program impacts.

So an alternate and innovative construction methodology was developed by our marine specialists.

While the shallow tidal mudflats prevented the use of floating crane barges, interconnected barges placed on the seabed form the basis of the solution.

Standard (flat-top, 55 m long) barges have been floated into position at high tide, trimmed and ballasted down onto the mud flats. The barges are connected using specifically designed link bridges, allowing movement of equipment over a total length of about 800 m.

The innovative design caters for critical issues such as differential settlement of the very soft muds under cyclic loads; dynamic lifting loads; and load sharing between barges. Specific lift plans have been developed to address key risks during erection.

The linked barges design provides a safe and cost-effective solution while minimising the impact of construction activities on the environmentally sensitive mudflats. After the barges have been removed the mudflats are expected to recover completely. The barges and link bridges can also be re-used on other marine projects, unlike the original piled solution.

We helped revolutionise the design and construction approach for large-scale marine infrastructure on Rio Tinto's Chith Export Facility project in remote Far North Queensland.

The 350m wharf structure was split into seven, first-of-a-kind ‘jacket’ modules (the substructure) and six topside modules. Weighing approximately 680 tonnes each and standing 30m high, the jacket modules, with integrated dolphins, reduced the number of permanent wharf piles required from 100 to just 28, minimising environmental impact to marine life – a core focus for the Chith Export Facility team.

The wharf topside modules, placed on the jackets, ranged from 600 to 1400 tonnes and were fabricated complete with all services, conveyors, concrete roadways and access walkways.

In true ‘plug and play’ fashion, the modules were delivered and installed by a heavy-lift ship in a safe, clean and efficient operation.

The project, completed in just 10 months, was awarded the Australian Construction Achievement Award by Engineers Australia and the Brunel Medal by the Institute of Civil Engineers (UK).

On the Granite Island Causeway project in South Australia, our team designed and implemented a "shroud and bubble curtain" to stop marine piling noise from disturbing the Southern Right Whale (SRW) and other marine fauna, such as the Australian sea lion and little penguins.

Prior to the solution being developed and approved, a local whale protection group strongly objected to piling occurring during whale season, which had the potential to impact the project's schedule and budget.

The bubble curtain was designed to reduce the noise levels by scattering, absorption, reflection, and refraction of the sound waves. The curtain design, along with some other piling modifications, gave sufficient confidence for federal approval under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act for piling during the whale season.