Abstract: Settlement monitoring of an embankment on soft soils improved by preload with Prefabricated Vertical Drains (PVD) method underneath Road E, Humen Port in Dongguan, allowed the ultimate consolidation settlements at various locations to be predicted by different methods. The ultimate settlement deduced from the observed data is compared with the value predicted from a numerical analysis using ABAQUS. The results suggest that it is feasible to predict the ultimate settlement by ABAQUS simulations. The results also allow evaluation of the reliability of ultimate consolidation settlement values predicted from observed settlement data.