Structures / Dry Dock No. 2, Pier 70, San Francisco
Pier 70, Dry Dock No. 2, was the last West Coast USA dry dock capable of lifting 900-foot long, 60,000 tons ships. The Dry Dock continues to provide repair and renovations and upgrade services for Cargo, Container and Cruise Ships. The Dry Dock segments were constructed in a on-shore shipyard, transported by ship to the site, launched, connected together and then anchored by pile sleeves over station piles that allow raising and lowering the dry dock for arrival and departure of vessels.
The Port of San Francisco, Pier 70, Dry Dock No. 2, is a monumental floating steel cradle capable of lifting up to 900-foot long ships weighing up to 60,000 tons. Engineering for Dry Dock No. 2 was performed by Earl & Wright Consulting Engineers with construction by the Bethehem Steel Corporation. It is engineered so it could be enlarged in both beam and length should there be a future need to accommodate larger ships. It was designed/constructed in four equal 400’ x 90’ quarters, transported by ship to the site and launched, floated and then joined together.
Dry Dock #2 has an 18” wide buoyancy chamber, divided into five (5) compartments longitudinally, runs the full length down on the centerline of each pontoon. Safety decks are located port and starboard at a height of 58’ – 6” in each wing wall.
Watertight transvers bulkheads, located at 40’ spacing along the length of the dock, are located from the buoyancy chambers to the safety decks. These subdivide the pontoon and wingwalls into forty (40) ballast compartments, twenty on each side.
The Pier 70 Shipyard Drydock No. 2 remains one of only five ship repair yards on the U.S. West Coast that can compete for the maintenance and repair of extra-large sized vessels. The Dry Dock can service “dry” maintenance and repair of the passenger cruise ships, private, government and military fleets, the domestic oil refineries business, and Bay Area maritime passenger and harbor service support vessels.
The greater Pier 70 Shipyard area consists of approximately 13.7 acres of land and piers, including 16 buildings, the floating steel Dry Dock No. 2 that was upgraded in 2008 to include 8000-amps shore side electric power service