Excavation tool adapted for shallow-water Middle East setting

Feb. 19, 2018
Rotech Subsea will perform offshore cable trenching for an unnamed client in the Middle East using its new TRS1 Low Draft controlled flow excavation tool.

Offshore staff

ABERDEEN, UKRotech Subsea will perform offshore cable trenching for an unnamed client in the Middle East using its new TRS1 Low Draft controlled flow excavation tool.

The company developed the device last year for a six-month campaign offshore Europe. It can work in 1 m (3.3 ft) water depth.

“The TRS1 Low Draft tool is based on our high pressure TRS1 excavator, and complements our high flow TRS2 shallow water tool which operates in waters down to depths of 2 m [6.6 ft],” said Rotech’s Director of Subsea, Steve Cochrane.

“But the TRS1 LD operates in ultra-shallow water down to just 1 m, which we believe makes it the most effective tool on the market for shallow-water cable trenching.”

This and the system’s power are ideally suited to the Middle East with its shallow waters and hard seabed conditions, he added.

Rotech claims the system’s positional control and stability in water leads to accurate and uniform trench profiles. It is also set to be deployed for a cable trenching program in UK waters.

Other potential applications are pipeline and umbilical trenching; cable, pipeline and umbilical de-burial; freespan and sandwave clearance; backfilling and burial; jackup spud can clearing and cleaning; rock dump and drill cuttings removal; and subsea structure foundation access.

The tool can operate in water depths from 1-300 m (3.3-984 ft), and with a jet pressure of 0-90 kPa and a velocity of 0-14 m/s.

Supplementary high-pressure jets allow the TRS1-LD to trench in soils up to 200 kPa.

02/19/2018