River Consulting and St. James Stevedoring Terminal win Best Specialist Award

River Consulting's dock design and the St. James Stevedoring terminal has been awarded the IBJ 2011 Best Specialist Dry Bulk Port or Terminal Award for the Nola Gateway facility. (Picture: River Consulting)

River Consulting’s recent dock design and the St. James Stevedoring terminal has been awarded the IBJ 2011 Best Specialist Dry Bulk Port or Terminal award for the Nola Gateway facility at the Mississippi River.

Columbus (OH), USA – The award specifically recognises the facility for “how innovative design has increased flexibility, reduced costs and improved safety on the Mississippi River".

“We are truly proud of the work put forth by the team responsible for putting together the Nola Gateway facility in which River Consulting played an integral part,” said Paul Morton, president of St. James Stevedoring, present to accept the award in Antwerp. “Their ability to think outside the box and implement a cost effective strategy truly helped shape the success of the project.”

River Consulting provided the design for the new floating dock at the terminal, providing preliminary and final design engineering and construction management services. River Consulting’s team of marine consultants worked with the client to provide a new transfer dock that met the client’s operational needs while remaining within budget and reducing the original concept capital costs. As a result of River Consulting’s design approach, while many other facility dock operations were impacted during the spring due to excessively high water levels, the successful design allowed for continued operation at the client’s terminal.

“We are extremely honoured to have contributed to enhancing the St. James terminal operations and to be recognized by this prestigious group,” remarked Gregory DiFrank, P.E. River Consulting president. “River Consulting is proud to have industry experts who can provide world-class solutions to meet our client’s needs and keep their facilities operating under the most demanding conditions.”

The IBJ Awards are dedicated exclusively to the maritime dry bulk industry and recognize achievements by individuals and companies improving and enhancing efficiency, safety and environment protection in the global market. The finalists were narrowed down by the independent judging panel from more than 100 individual category entries from 28 different countries and all 5 continents.