See SMS demonstrate its underwater capabilities at Seawork
A Seawork Marine Services diver performs underwater burning work at a container port.
UK based Seawork Marine Services (SMS), has been demonstrating its ability to fulfil a wide variety of underwater repair services, from fender work at petrochemical terminals to replacing lock gate sills.
The company, which will be attending Seawork this year to coordinate demonstrations in the quayside Dive Tank, has recently secured some important contracts with blue chip companies which represent key achievements for the company since its acquisition of Sub Surface Engineering (SSE) almost a year ago.
SMS director Kieron Stringwell told MJ, ‘We have made significant progress during the last 12 months. We have an exciting project coming up with the RNLI which starts in mid-May. The first phase involves underwater repair to slipways at lifeboat stations starting in the Isle of Man and then moving into stations in Wales, which should take 11 days’.
SMS has recently completed a big contract for DP World in Southampton, which involved welding seven interceptor tanks to a large container berth. The tanks intercept any residue oil or fuel from the storm water drainage system.
The tanks had to be lifted and hoisted into position and then welded into place on specially adapted brackets. The job was scheduled to take a maximum of ten days, but SMS completed the work in just eight, quite a mean feat considering divers had the logistics of an operational container port and tidal working to take into account.
SMS has also just completed a lock gate repair for ABP Ipswich. The specification called for replacement of four timber sills measuring nearly 4m in length because the original sills were severely deteriorated. The new sills, made of Greenheart which does not need to be treated and is resistant to many marine borers, were fitted in a four day operation, each pair of sills taking two days to fit per gate.
Exxon Mobil has also been benefitting from SMS expertise, as SMS has a dive team operating at the Fawley oil and chemical plant in Southampton. The team is contracted to inspect nine berths, along with Gifford Consulting Engineers, to assess corrosion and stability of the fender systems above and below the water line. The divers are doing this by visual inspection and non-destructive testing using underwater thickness meters, which tell them how much steel is left under any corrosion present. SMS started the job at the beginning of April and was nearing completion as MJ went to press, a six week operation.
As well as running the Dive Tank, SMS will also be at Seawork 2010 as an exhibitor and can be found on Stand DS18.
Images for this article - click to enlarge
Unless otherwise stated, all images copyright © Mercator Media 2012. This does not exclude the owner's assertion of copyright over the material.
