During the 2022 hurricane season, Puerto Rico faced disastrous flooding brought on by Hurricane Fiona. Despite its Category 1 rating, the effects of Fiona's massive rainfall submerged homes that were already damaged from Category 4 Hurricane Maria in 2017. Since then, buildings have slowly sunk in the ground due to liquefaction, or water and loose sediments at ground surface. Any new construction on Puerto Rico's weak soil must be built on strong foundations made to resist future liquefaction, especially for something the size of La Cala--the latest luxury residential complex in Dorado, Puerto Rico currently underway for the world-renowned, Ritz-Carlton Reserve. 

MRD LLC, a Puerto Rican based contractor, recently prepared the foundation for the high-end neighborhood that will include 16 houses, each with an average sale value of $35 million. As leaders in ground improvement, soil reinforcement and deep foundations the experts at MRD first installed stone columns to help mitigate the potential for liquefaction by increasing the density of surrounding soil. To accomplish this, the contractor rented two ICE® 12E Excavator-Mounted Vibratory Hammers and an ICE® EX-25 Rotary Head. Pre-drilling was first accomplished by the ICE® EX-25 to drill out the soils to the desired design depth. After pre-drilling was accomplished, a special tool was then inserted with the ICE® 12E Vibratory Hammer to compact the gravel to further strengthen the area. Once completed, the MRD team then used the two ICE® 12E Excavator-Mounted Hammers, the largest in the ICE® Mounted Excavator series, to install the 18" (in) impact piers to grade.

This contractor chose to reach out to their ICE® service team for some deep foundation solutions that would give their crew an edge -- and it certainly exceeded their expectations. In fact, ICE®'s rotary attachments helped them to greatly improve installation time compared to the standard equipment they had been using previously. The MRD crew was very pleased, stating that "the ICE® 12E has been efficient in terms of energy for the compaction/construction, as well as the ICE® EX-25 for pre-drilling".  

International Construction Equipment, Inc values its Latin American customers and thanks MRD for the opportunity to show the Puerto Rican construction industry the quality and power of the ICE® line. Congratulations to the entire MRD team on a job well done!  

Learn more about the ICE® 12E and ICE® EX-25 Rotary Head 

Media Contact-    
Pollyanna Cunningham, MA, MBA    
Director Marketing, Brand and Media Relations    
ICE® - International Construction Equipment, Inc    
Office - 704-821-8200    
Email - marketing@iceusa.com