The Neptune3000 will enable Lankelma CPT to perform piezocone CPTs in water depths of up to 3,000m. It has a compact and easily deployed subsea frame, automatic safety cut-outs and an easy to operate Windows based PC control. Lankelma CPT will use the system on future projects including submarine cable, pipeline route investigations, seabed anchoring assessments and shallow subsea foundation studies.

The resistivity data acquisition system works by passing a current from one contact on a streamed cable, through the soil to a return contact. This effective piece of equipment will carry out projects in water depths to 2,500m. Both systems come with dedicated launch and recovery system, which allows Lankelma CPT to work with vessels of opportunity with or without an 'A' frame.

Lankelma CPT recently mobilised vibrocore and ROSON CPT equipment to Heysham harbour to commence the cable route survey for the proposed wind farm at Barrow. All equipment was loaded on-board the Laura M , a multi-cat owned and operated by GSS Ltd of Rhu in Scotland.

After a short period of bad weather, the survey works commenced with the 5m high powered vibrocorer giving good penetration through substrates ranging from very loose silty sands to stiff gravely clays. Recovery from cores was consistently in excess of 90 per cent of penetration with a required level of 75 per cent. In all, some 69m of penetration were achieved giving 57m of core sample for analysis.

CPT operations proved to be more troublesome due to the nature of cobbles found in the material. All tests were performed to a target depth of 5m with a 30kN ROSON seabed frame using 5cm 2and 10cm 2cones with pore pressure measured at the U2 position. Some 67m of testing have given an excellent overview of the area of seabed to be trenched.

In another contract, carried out with joint venture partner Seacore, Lankelma Seacore Offshore mobilised their WISON downhole CPT system on board vessel Kingfisher at Falmouth docks, in order to undertake a site investigation for Seacore at a proposed jack-up and storage facility in Dutch sector P10/P11 of the North Sea.

The mobilisation of the WISON system with heave-compensated drill spread was completed in four days and following dynamic positioning tests, Kingfisher embarked for Rotterdam.

The site investigation started with a scope of works comprising 18 boreholes to a maximum depth of 65m below sea-bed level (~95m below LAT). Mud-line CPTs were used to prove echo sounder readings and the first four continuous PCPT tests were performed to 35m over a 48 hour period in calm weather conditions. Typically, tip loads of 30-40 Mpa were encountered in the shallow holes with loads in excess of 65 Mpa below 40m depth.

Composite sampling/CPT boreholes were completed using the WISON's downhole 1m push sampler giving excellent recovery in all substrates (Holocene sands and Pleistocene alluvial sequences) up to a maximum push of 3 tonnes (the limit of the thin walled sample tubes). This high load is possible due to the use of a sample tube protection system used on the WISON.

Samples were processed using the on-board laboratory. The works were completed without incident and the ship sailed to Bomlo in Norway to de-mob.