Acta Marine has deployed two vessels on unexploded ordnance (UXO) survey projects for two future European subsea cable routes.
“In preparation for offshore wind and power cable projects, operators want to have their proposed cable routes surveyed for potential unexploded ordinance,” said the company’s Commercial Manager Bert de Ruiter .
Because of the shallow draft requirements of both projects, Acta Marine has deployed their vessel Offshore Phantom. However, due to a high vessel occupation rate, the company was not able to supply the second vessel from its fleet, and has thus teamed up with Marine Projects Rotterdam who provided the vessel MPR Sounder.
UXO surveys are performed by towing gradiometer equipment over the seabed. The equipment is towed at a distance behind the vessel so that it is unaffected by electromagnetic effects of the vessel itself. The survey vessel also needs to be equipped with a Multi Beam Echosounder (MBE), and sonar and acoustics transducers to investigate the surface of the seabed and the positioning of the gradiometer wings.