Not too many contractors can say they’ve driven piles
on the mighty Mississippi River, but Cecil D. Gassiott,
LLC (CDG, LLC) is one of the few exceptions.
The Alexandria, La.-based general contractor recently drove
piles on the second longest river in North America as part of the
construction of a loading conveyor belt system for onloading and
offloading grain at the new Port of Vidalia in Vidalia, Louisiana.
The nearly $4 million project involved driving anywhere from
18-inch to 72-inch steel pipe.
“It was probably the most fun pile driving job we’ve ever had,”
said J.J. Knowles, project manager at CDG, LLC.
“We were working on a river that’s constantly flowing, that
constantly wants to take you in a different direction than you want
to go,” said Knowles, who joined the company six years ago.
Most of the training for such a marine pile driving project is
done in-house.
“There’s not a class you can take that says, ‘Hey, I want to drive
piles on the river, how do I do it?’”
He credits company founder Cecil Gassiott with much of the
namesake company’s expertise.
“He’s been doing this stuff for 43 years. That experience and
ingenuity is key to everything,” said Knowles.
CDG, LLC was founded in 1977. Cecil Gassiott still works
full time as the CEO of the family business, while his son, Sam
Gassiott, is the president and son-in-law, Jeremy McElwee, is the
vice-president.
The company started off with nothing but a 580 CASE
backhoe loader.
CONTRACTOR MEMBER
CECIL D. GASSIOTT, LLC
Experience and ingenuity
By Danny Kucharsky
All photos courtesy of CDG, LLC
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