Marine construction begins at site of new Little Bay pier

The first reinforced concrete caissons have been placed into the water in Little Bay, signalling the start of marine construction works for the new pier.

In the next step, contractor Meridian Construction Company will cover the ten temporary blocks with a concrete slab and a metal ramp to allow access to a crane.

They will use the crane to place permanent caissons on the north western and south western sides of the temporary caissons, a government press release said on 17 April.

The contractor will then remove the temporary caissons to allow them to be reused as permanent structures later in the process.

The new Little Bay pier construction team watch over the caisson placement process. (Government of Montserrat)

The next stages of the project will then be affixing the roll on roll off platform for ships to offload cargo, also known as a Ro-Ro ramp, and pier construction.

This process is expected to continue over the next few weeks, the press release said, adding that the public must not swim near the recently established exclusion area.

In March, the team announced it would be transporting 320 caissons from the manufacturing site in Piper’s Pond to the new pier in Little Bay, warning road-users to be cautious.

In February, Deputy Premier Samuel Joseph said following several extensions to the Montserrat Port Development Project timeline, the new completion date is 9 May.