Urban to design lay berth for Navy vessels in Philadelphia
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Urban has been awarded a contract by the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority (PRPA) to design the expansion of the Tioga Marine Terminal to accommodate the berthing of two, nearly 1,000-foot long, U.S. Navy vessels. The vessels, Large, Medium Speed Roll On/Roll Off (LMSR) ships, are used to deliver military equipment and supplies to any part of the world during times of crisis.

Urban’s design will feature special mooring and breasting dolphins to be built in the Delaware River. The dolphins will permit the LMSR vessels to berth side by side, or “nested,” at the north end of the Tioga Marine Terminal. Because the berthed vessels will extend beyond the marine terminal, their layberth will utilize only a small portion of the terminal’s marginal berth and adjacent acreage, enabling commercial cargo-handling operations to continue unimpeded. The mooring and terminal infrastructure improvements necessary for the berthing of the LMSRs are expected to be in place by this fall.

The United States Navy’s Military Sealift Command selected the Port of Philadelphia as a long-term berthing location for the LMSRs. In October 2001, PRPA responded to a Military Sealift Command request for proposal regarding the LMSRs. PRPA’s final revised proposal was made in October 2002. Urban helped the PRPA to prepare its proposal, designed the mooring line arrangement, and developed a plan to expand the Tioga Marine Terminal to be able to berth the vessels.