ASCE Sacramento Honors BWC Stockton Marine Oil Terminal with Outstanding Project Award

SGH served as the prime design consultant and led the structural design for the terminal, working closely with general contractor CS Marine Constructors, environmental permitting consultant AnchorQEA, geotechnical subconsultant GFT, and electrical engineer YEI. The project marks California’s first marine oil terminal in more than thirty years built on a completely undeveloped site.

“This project shows what is possible when owners, regulators, and engineers work together toward a common goal,” said SGH Executive Principal William Bruin. “The team developed a resilient, efficient design that supports California’s renewable energy transition while meeting some of the nation’s highest standards for environmental protection and seismic performance.”

Located at Berth 8 in the Port of Stockton, the terminal serves as an important addition to the port’s multimodal transportation network. The design allows the terminal to accommodate vessels with a deadweight of up to 50,000 MT and provides BWC with a dedicated marine berth to support cargo transfer operations serving its tank farm facilities.

Designed to meet California’s Marine Oil Terminal Engineering and Maintenance Standards (MOTEMS), the terminal reflects today’s heightened expectations for seismic performance, safety, environmental protection, and operations. To support the design, GFT completed a site-specific soils study to define seismic hazard and soil conditions, and SGH performed nonlinear pushover analyses to confirm that the overwater structures met MOTEMS performance objectives. The design also incorporates oil spill containment and environmental protection measures, including fail-safe emergency shutdown and shore isolation valves, secondary containment at the loading platform, and an oil-water separator to treat collected rainwater before discharge. Close coordination among the technical teams and regulatory and local agencies helped align engineering, permitting, and construction efforts, allowing the team to complete the overwater terminal structures within the San Joaquin River’s limited in-water work season.

David Papst, Eric Ables, and Brian Gaffigan from BWC, and Katie Chamberlin from AnchorQEA attended the awards banquet with the SGH team. Learn more about the other ASCE Sacramento Section award-winning projects.