Challenges accepted

Heavy Metal Marine is a Vancouver Island company with a lot of local experience and a wealth of resources to bring to projects on the West coast By Kelly Gray Brian Freethy and his business partner, Ashley Williams, enjoy a good challenge. The pair own and operate Victoria-based Heavy Metal Marine, a company they started right after finishing high school. The company, named after a small tug that Williams and his father had built, has grown its marine construction capabilities since starting in 2004 with the construction of a private pier near Sydney, B.C. Today, Heavy Metal Marine has become a Vancouver Island “go to” company for a full range of marine services and solutions, from wharfs and breakwaters to boardwalks and ferry terminals.

Ocean Building

Island Marine Construction Services Ltd. is B.C.'s Gulf Island's premier custom dock builder By Lisa Gordon At Island Marine Construction Services Ltd., they like a good challenge. That's a good thing, because as the premier custom dock builder in the British Columbia Gulf Islands, they're in the business of solving problems.

Amphibex Responds to Market

Norm Grant and his family manufacture portable dredges named Amphibex that have many functions and are sold all over the world. The company, Normrock Industries, is based on innovation and constant response to what the market needs. By Judith Powers Norman Grant says he was “born between a piston and a crank shaft.” The fifth child in a family of 12, and the oldest boy, Grant was born in the Matane area of Quebec and raised in Ville D'Anjou in eastern Montreal. His father was a mechanic, and Grant spent his childhood years in mechanical pursuits, which became his trade when he reached working age.

Match Made in Heaven

Two family businesses come together to create one powerhouse, PRECO-MSE By Heather Hudson Two leading family businesses have merged - and expect to become a powerhouse in deep foundation and drilling across Canada. In October 2017, PRECO Foundations, a division of Roxboro, and the companies of MSE Group, including ICANDA Corporation, Forage MSE and the Toronto subsidiary MSE Drilling & Grouting, merged to create PRECO-MSE.

WEDA Provides Dredging Forum

After 40 years, the Western Dredging Association is continuing its mission of providing technical papers, exchanging of ideas and meeting places for the dredging industry in the Americas By Judith Powers The Western Dredging Association (WEDA)'s mission is to promote the exchange of knowledge in fields related to dredging, navigation, hydrographic surveying and marine engineering and construction, and to provide the opportunity for dredging professionals to meet and exchange knowledge on all topics.

Success Under Water

If it's under water, Midco Diving & Marine Services Inc. wants to look at it By Jess Campbell When you're facing unknown territory or a significant challenge - in life, in your career or in your industry - there's usually a right way and a wrong way to approach it. Robert Greenspan, owner and president of Midco Diving & Marine Services Incorporated in Rapid City, S.D., has made it his mission to service his clients and build his business the right way - and it appears to be working for him.

Cleaning Up the Past for the Future

Bermingham Foundation Solutions helps clean up Randle Reef

Building Professional Responsibility

Foundation drill rig operator program begins in North America By Deb Smith It's long overdue, but education and certification for foundation drill rig operators will finally be available through a comprehensive online course developed by experienced industry and teaching professionals. Kevin Sharp, general manager of Northstar Sharp's Foundation Specialists, has been involved in the drilling industry for 35 years and has seen great advancements in the size, power and technology of foundation drilling equipment. And yet until now, across all of North America, there has been no formal training for the hundreds of junior operators working on such powerful and dangerous equipment.

New piling and drilling rig from Liebherr

Industry News

DFI announces keynote speakers for 42nd Annual Conference on Deep Foundations

Industry News

Soilmec Open House 2017

Industry News

ECA promotes Jeff Harmston to vice president of sales and marketing

Industry News

MHWirth’s PBA 615 advances India’s ambitious infrastructure projects

Industry News

The Perils of Social Media

When private becomes public By Keith A. Senden, Fillmore Riley LLP As social media becomes increasingly present in the workplace, employees and employers alike must educate themselves on the implications of social media use both in the workplace and outside of the workplace. The line that divides an individual's private life is blurred by society's overwhelming use of social media. Platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter serve as revolutionary ways to communicate ideas, thoughts and files; however, users should remain conscious of the implications of posting certain content on their own time and during work hours.

International Attachments Inc.

Customer service focus starts at the top By Kim Biggar International Attachments sells and services demolition equipment in the U.S. and Canadian markets. Their top-selling products are hydraulic hammers and pile drivers; other products include crushers, excavator rail cutters, pile breakers, dredgers, demolition shears and pulverizers. Based in Tampa, Fla., the company distributes attachments from Bell Dredging Pumps, EMS Group, OSA Demolition Equipment, SME Group and other manufacturers, maintaining a vast inventory to enable timely deliveries throughout North America and beyond. While it ships internationally, most of International's sales are to companies in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean.

Enaeria

A sky-high idea that's really taken off By Jim Timlick An upstart Hamilton, Ont.-based company is using some sky-high technology to help provide construction crews with a more accurate picture of the work they do on deep foundation construction sites. Enaeria uses unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, to perform a variety of functions on construction sites, including visual inspections, surveying and mapping and monitoring. The technology can provide data on everything from the precise location of an individual pile to changes in volume measurement.

Rocscience

From its humble beginning more than two decades ago, this software company has morphed from a small spin-off company into a global enterprise By Lisa Kopochinski Rocscience is truly global. With a head office in Toronto, the company provides geotechnical software to its more than 7,000 customers around the world. Not bad for a company that was officially formed a little more than 20 years ago as a spin-off from the University of Toronto. Situated in a beautiful home-like and cozy office in the heart of downtown Toronto, its exterior would never suggest that inside is a team of 33 developers, engineers, marketers and support staff that regularly communicates with more than 120 countries.

Pacific Pile & Marine Civil Constructors

PPM's new subsidiary services Western Canada By Lisa Kopochinski Pacific Pile & Marine (PPM) may not be a household name, but if you're in the marine or heavy civil industry, it's a name you should get to know. PPM was formed in 2008 as a continuation of Hurlen Construction, which dates back nearly 50 years to provide best-in-class services to the Western United States and Canada. Between 2010 and 2011, PPM partnered on a remote design-build run-of-river project northeast of Sechelt, B.C. involving two new greenfield hydro facilities. Following that project, PPM determined the market would be better serviced by establishing a larger presence in the area and in early 2017, made good on that decision by establishing a B.C.-based subsidiary, PPM Civil Constructors.