DeepOcean Wins Pre-Cut Trenching Contract

DeepOcean announces the multi-million pound pre-cut trenching contract award with Statnett & Energinet.dk on the Skagerrak 4 HVDC Submarine Interconnector Project.

DeepOcean will provide the engineering and project management for the pre-cut trenching workscope in Denmark, which is expected to commence in July 2012. The scope of work will include mobilisation out of DeepOcean’s offshore base in Middlesbrough, pre-trench survey and pre-cut trenching of 23 kilometres of the Skagerrak 4 route.

Handled out of the UK office, DeepOcean will provide its heavy duty APP pre-cut trenching plough for the project, which provides high control and instrumentation during operation. This will be operated off the high bollard pull TSV Maersk Assister, which will arrive into DeepOcean’s offshore base later next week to commence mobilisation activities.

DeepOcean leads the market in the use of pre-cut trenching for the protection of submarine power cables. As the only independent contractor with sophisticated pre-cut ploughing capability, DeepOcean offers a number of ploughs for this solution and has a proven track record in the operation of these. Its specialist ploughs offer a high level of control and precision, capable of navigating along pre-determined cable routes and transitioning in and out of the seabed as required. These solutions eliminate any risk of product damage and provide a high quality trench for the protection of HVAC and HVDC export cables.

Managing Director, Tony Inglis, says of the pre-cut trenching contract, “We are delighted to be awarded this pre-cut trenching workscope, as DeepOcean is highly skilled in this area and believe this is the ideal solution for achieving the best burial depth in hard ground regions, whilst removing any risk of cable damage.

“We have been using pre-cut trenching as the technique of choice in the Oil & Gas market for many years and are pleased to now be applying this to the Power & Transmission market with Statnett and Energinet.dk. We are also looking to expand this technique into the Offshore Wind market over the coming months.”

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Offshore Nieuws Staff, June 29, 2012; Image : DeepOcean