DeepOcean Beefs Up Its Subsea Trencher

DeepOcean has placed a contract with subsea equipment manufacturer SMD to deliver a mechanical cutting boom and associated cable handling system for its tracked trenching vehicle the T3200.

According to DeepOcean, the cutting boom will be twice as powerful and deliver double the torque of any other comparable subsea trenching asset in the industry.

SMD will deliver an ultra-high torque, boom-cutting cassette for simultaneous mechanical and jet trenching, which should enable the protection of bundled and un-bundled power cables in rock and other hard ground areas.

Pierre Boyde, DeepOcean’s commercial director, said: “The T3200 is a game changer for the offshore power cable industry and sets a new standard for cable burial. In addition to the vehicles unrivalled power and ability to protect product to 3m in challenging seabed conditions, the asset incorporates HUMS (Health Usage and Monitoring System) for real time analysis of work rate and asset condition. This important technology increases reliability and sustains subsea operations. We will be using the T3200 for the burial of export cables on a UK based windfarm in 2016 followed by the Nemo Link interconnector project in 2017 and 2018.”