Since 1936, Montreal-based Delsan-A.I.M. has recycled recovered scrap metal by-products into valuable, usable raw materials.
Delsan-A.I.M. Environmental Services Inc. is a leading environmental services company that provides services to a wide range of industrial, institutional, governmental, and commercial clients. With a reputation for superior service and results, Delsan provides integrated and diversified turn-key solutions for demolition, decommissioning, asset recovery, asbestos and lead abatement, contaminated soil remediation, as well as cleaning, removal, and recycling of storage tanks.
A fully-owned subsidiary of American Iron and Metal Company Inc. (A.I.M.), a worldwide company with offices on 5 continents and a workforce of over 3000 employees. A.I.M. is recognized as one of North America’s largest metal processors and wholesalers, recycling approximately 1.5 million tons of ferrous scrap and over 250 million pounds of non-ferrous scrap annually with sales of over $2 billion. Incorporated in 1994, Delsan-A.I.M. added an important synergy with A.I.M. recycling operations by supplying a source of scrap metals from demolition projects. Delsan-A.I.M., incorporated in 1994, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of American Iron and Metal Company Inc. (A.I.M.), a globally recognized corporation with a presence on five continents in Asia and South America. With an extensive workforce of over 3000 employees, A.I.M. stands as one of the largest metal processors and wholesalers in North America.
A.I.M. has established itself as a leader in the industry, annually recycling approximately 1.5 million tons of ferrous scrap and over 250 million pounds of non-ferrous scrap. Furthermore, the company boasts impressive sales figures, surpassing $2 billion.
In the context of A.I.M.’s recycling operations, the integration of Delsan-A.I.M. plays a vital role. Delsan-A.I.M. specializes in supplying scrap metals sourced from demolition projects, thus providing a valuable synergy with A.I.M.’s recycling endeavors.
With offices in Toronto, Laval, Ottawa, and Quebec City, Delsan-A.I.M. has a workforce of more than 350 employees, Delsan-A.I.M. provides turn-key decommissioning and demolition services to the Canadian market, including hazardous waste abatement, scrap metal salvage, asset recovery and environmental remediation, with annual sales of over $110 million.
“The past 29 years have seen significant evolution for Delsan-A.I.M.”, says Simon Hebert, Civils Work Manager. In this time, Delsan-A.I.M. has grown to be an industry leader, having managed, and executed many complex turn-key projects, which have included major facilities such as automotive assembly plants, an international airport, petrochemical plants, generating stations, steel mills, pulp and paper mills, mines, as well as smelters and refineries. Delsan-A.I.M., with office locations in Toronto, Laval, Ottawa, and Quebec City, boasts a dedicated workforce of over 350 employees. The company specializes in providing comprehensive decommissioning and demolition services tailored to the Canadian market. Their range of expertise includes hazardous waste abatement, scrap metal salvage, asset recovery, and environmental remediation. Delsan-A.I.M. has achieved remarkable annual sales exceeding $110 million.
According to Simon Hebert, the Civils Work Manager, Delsan-A.I.M. has undergone significant growth and transformation over the past 29 years. Through their unwavering commitment to excellence, the company has emerged as an industry leader, successfully managing and executing numerous complex turn-key projects. Notably, these projects have encompassed a diverse range of major installations, such as automotive assembly plants, international airports, petrochemical plants, generating stations, steel mills, pulp and paper mills, mines, as well as smelters and refineries.
“Delsan-A.I.M. owns a large fleet of equipment that includes over seventy-five (75) mid to full-sized excavators, which are equipped with specialized attachments for demolition, excavation, and material handling operations, including shears, pulverisers, hydraulic hammers, grapples, buckets, and magnets,” says Hebert. “The fleet also includes eight high-reach excavators that have an upper operating range of 65 to 134 feet above ground level.”
The competitiveness of services that Delsan-A.I.M. offers is augmented by other company-owned equipment such as a mobile concrete crusher, front-end loaders, skid-steer loaders, mini-excavators, forklifts, telescopic handlers as well as scissor-lifts, and further bolstered by the transportation capabilities of A.I.M., which owns an extensive fleet of over 140 roll-off trucks and straight body vans along with over 1,000 railcars.
“Our primary commitment is always to provide a workplace that is safe and incident free by implementing a “No One Gets Hurt” mentality with our employees, vendors, sub-contractors and by continuously building and promoting a Health and Safety culture within our organization,” says Hebert. “This requires effective management, planning, training, and communication, as well as rigorous compliance with all applicable acts and regulations.”
Many factors must be considered to ensure a safe and successful project. At Delsan-A.I.M., strong and effective management are the key elements to achieve their goals. “Our management system involves and energizes all organizational levels across the company, from management to on-site staff, to ensure the identification and elimination of hazards,” says Hebert. “The performance of our management system is evaluated and optimized through performance review across the board. Continuous improvement is at the heart of our management process and risk assessments are conducted for every project regardless of its size or dollar value.”
Champlain Bridge deconstruction
Delsan-A.I.M. was called upon to participate in the deconstruction of Quebec’s landmark bridge, the Champlain Bridge, which crosses the St. Lawrence River in Montreal. Opened in 1962, the bridge was an integral piece of infrastructure for over 50 years until its closing in 2019.
The Champlain bridge demolition means a lot for the entire province of Quebec, but more specially for the Greater Montreal Area. “This deconstruction project is one of the last parts of a major infrastructure overhaul program that started many years ago to rebuild the highway network in the south-west of Montreal,” says Hebert. “Obviously, there is also the nostalgic factor. The old Champlain bridge was, for more than 50 years, the main link between the Island of Montreal and the south shore, and was the busiest bridge in Canada with about 50 million vehicles crossing per year. To commemorate its past existence, the Owner of the old bridge put together a “Heritage” project that will highlight its history that will include remaining elements of the old structure in different ways.”
The bridge was 3,441 m in length from abutment to abutment and consists of three sections, which are numbered from north to south as 5, 6 and 7. The north and south sections, which have lengths of 2150 m and 528 m respectively, were built using prestressed concrete I-beams spanning between concrete piers and supporting cast-in-place concrete decking paved with asphalt. Section 6, which is the central portion over the St. Lawrence Seaway, consists of steel trusses that also sit on reinforced concrete piers, which support a paved, reinforced concrete deck with an overall length of 763 m, including a cantilevered span of 215 m.
Due to the structural deterioration of the bridge over time from de-icing salts, various reinforcement measures and rehabilitation programs were undertaken from the 1990s to the mid 2010s. The Jacques Cartier and Champlain Bridges Incorporated (JCCBI)—a Canadian Government Crown Corporation, which is responsible for the management, maintenance, and monitoring of the bridge—decided to construct a replacement bridge just downstream from the original construction. The new bridge opened on the 1st of July 2019 and the old one closed to traffic after only 57 years in service.
JCCBI contracted “Nouvel Horizon Saint-Laurent (NHSL)”—which is a joint venture that includes Delsan-A.I.M. Environmental Services Inc. (Delsan-A.I.M.)—to undertake the planning, engineering, and deconstruction of the original Champlain Bridge. The overall project started in July 2020 and is scheduled to be completed over a 3-year period by December 2023.
“The scope is to deconstruct the entire bridge from abutment to abutment, but with some specific parts and pieces to be conserved for historical reasons and also for R&D in collaboration with University Engineering department studying structural behavior and deterioration over time,” says Hebert.
Demolition Process
“Many processes were used to demolish the bridge, mainly because of the different conditions found in the structure’s 3.4 km length,” says Hebert. “All work performed in the approach, over land or temporary jetties, was performed using more traditional means and methods, with excavators, specials demolition attachment and cranes.”
For the demolition of thirty (30) spans of the northern portion of the bridge, the work entailed a very challenging level of planning and engineering to ensure the safe and successful execution of this part of the overall project. Each span—having a length of 53.7 m and a width of 24.1 m—was supported on concrete piers that varied in height from 10 to 28 m.
The design of the demolition methodology needed to take into consideration several constraints including the type of construction, which prevented the spans from being demolished using “traditional” approaches, due to not only the lack of reinforcing steel in the girders but also the poor condition of the post-tensioning cables. “The St. Lawrence River, which is a protected environment for wildlife and a source of drinking water for millions of people, was also central to the design process since no debris was allowed to fall into the water and explosives were not permitted,” says Hebert.
Although the river is more than 3 km wide from one bank to the other, its depth varies widely from only 1.5 m in some places to more than 8 m in others. This factor along with the high current speed of the river near the bridge, which can reach more than 5 knots, and the extremely cold weather conditions that can occur during winter, were other important design constraints that affected the choice of maritime equipment, access to the structure, and the overall execution of the work.
The final methodology that was designed and engineered by the team involved removing the whole span, which weighed about 2,000 tonnes, in one lifting operation using hydraulic jacking towers that were mounted on an assembly of barges and positioned below the span to be removed.
The barges were used to transport the lifted span upstream to clear the piers. The span was subsequently lowered and demolished directly on the lifting platform by conventional means using two (2), 40-tonne excavators, which were positioned on an adjacent temporary work platform. The debris generated during the demolition was transferred to secondary barges for material handling that shuttled between the demolition barge and a temporary wharf that was set up on the shore.
“Another important engineering challenge was the in-house design of a sophisticated ballasting system to enable the lifting and displacement of the 2,000-tonne spans, while ensuring the stability of the system when it was deployed to its maximum height of more than 28 metres,” says Hebert
“Apart from all the above, our greatest achievement was to complete these complex operations under trying conditions without any incidents, material failures, delays, or environmental damage,” says Hebert.
For more information, please visit www.delsan-aim.com
