Osbit Completes Subsea Plough for Global Marine Group

Osbit has delivered a multi-function pre-lay and backfill subsea plough to Global Marine Group.

Following contract award in January, The offshore technology company has designed and built the plough, which will now be known as PLP240.

Final assembly and sign-off was completed at Osbit’s Port of Blyth facility, on time at the end of May.

Osbit has worked in collaboration with Global Marine Group and its first client for the new plough, Vattenfall, to deliver a burial asset which will help to reduce the cost of offshore wind installation. This has been accomplished by optimising the vehicle to minimise project risks and combine operations to reduce the time required to install subsea cables, Osbit said.

According to the company, the plough offers unrivalled single pass capability, which enables boulder clearance and pre-trenching up to 1.7m in a single run, leaving a boulder cleared swathe and a ‘backfill-ready’ open trench with segregated spoil. The plough is also fully subsea adjustable and features an extensive surveillance suite for accurate and effective trenching, Osbit added.

The plough can be reconfigured into backfill mode, which uses the same control and surveillance suite to monitor the cable and trench profile.

The plough is supported by Osbit’s technology, which consists of an open source modular system incorporating Osbit Integrated Logistics Support (OILS) asset monitoring.

Following its completion, the plough will now be officially launched by Global Marine Group during an event at its Port of Blyth facility, in early July.

Martyn Drye, director of Engineering at Global Marine Group, said: “Our new PLP240 will allow us to reduce the time to first power production by shortening the wind farm construction phase, and therefore delivering an earlier return on investment for our developer clients. Through intelligent engineering alongside the Osbit team, we’ve created a versatile solution which integrates cable route preparation, cable laying and trenching – an industry first. The PLP240 complements our existing fleet of subsea trenchers and ploughs, offering clients a solution that’s right for them no matter which subsea sector they operate in.”