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Seabed Cranes Excavate Lost Cargo
01 Oct 2007
This summer the Netherland's Seatec Underwater Systems BV provided several underwater monitoring systems , subsea pump units, various subsea components and engineering assistance which enabled Mammoet Salvage to recover part of a cargo of aluminium bars from a sunken cargo ship in the Baltic Sea using two cranes located on the seabed.
Two hydraulic excavators were modified for subsea use and equipped with pumps and suction nozzles to pick up the aluminium bars. The cranes were placed on dedicated foundation piles while the power pack was placed on board a barge and connected to the cranes by hydraulic hoses. Control valves were placed in pressure compensated boxes and the controls themselves were located in a dedicated offshore cabin.
Seatec equipped both cranes with their proprietary DipperMaster monitoring system, making position orientation of the crane nozzles in relation to the wreck possible. The excavators were therefore equipped with Seatec's submersible angle transmitters and junction box mounted inclinometers. The monitoring software displayed the crane in a side and a top view in relation to the wreck, which was modelled in profiles.
Auxiliary subsea camera and light systems were mounted to detect the bars once the pick-up location was approached. Seatec also provided all electrical subsea connections including various submersible junction boxes and water ingress detection circuits.
The complete project had to be achieved in a short time frame due to anticipated autumn weather in the Baltic Sea. Engineering, construction and installation had to be accomplished within eight weeks. During this same time frame the operators were trained by Seatec engineers.
By the end of last month the project had been successfully completed, with the majority of the aluminium bars recovered.
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