Fendercare Subsea Services successfully complete Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) operation

Fendercare Subsea Services have successfully completed their UXO project on behalf of Sandbank Offshore Wind, a joint venture from Vattenfall, one of Europe’s largest operator of offshore wind farms and Stadtwerke München, one of Germany’s utilities heavily involved in renewable energy.Unexploded ordnance (UXOs) are explosive weapons (bombs, shells, grenades, land mines, naval mines, etc.) that did not explode when they were employed and still pose a risk of detonation, potentially many decades after they were used or discarded.

The UXO project was conducted at the Sandbank offshore wind farm which is the second largest power generation project undertaken by Vattenfall and Stadtwerke München in the German North Sea. The operation itself identified 120 potential contacts of which 26 were highlighted as UXOs and disposed of in controlled environments.

Fendercare Subsea Services’ role as an operator was to relocate the contacts using state of the art surveying equipment, excavation of contacts using dredging tools on the Work class ROV, identification of contacts by qualified UXO experts and disposal by their experienced Explosive Ordnance Disposal team. Due to the controlled, ROV based disposal method and the robust safety approach of all parties, the operations were conducted without an incident in which the safety of personnel was at risk.

By having the means of identification and disposal on board at the same time, Fendercare Subsea Services were able to switch quickly between the two different types of operations, resulting in time and commercial savings for their client.

The Sandbank project area is located 90 kilometres off the coast of Schleswig-Holstein, and in total, 72 Siemens 4-megawatt class wind turbines will be erected there. With an overall capacity of 288 megawatts, the wind farm will start generating low-emissions power in the German North Sea in 2017.

Fendercare Subsea Services is a new division from the Fendercare Marine Group, bringing together established world class diving and Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) brands to provide solutions to their customer’s subsea requirements.

This successful Sandbank project was carried out as part of a joint venture between Fendercare Subsea Services and GSS Hansa Offshore GmbH. The joint venture enables the Group to provide fully compliant diving solutions and UXO identification and recovery in accordance with German Federal laws.

Martyn Muntingh, Fendercare Subsea Services Director commented “Working with GSS Hansa, we now have the capability to detect, identify, remove and dispose of the UXO’s using experienced and qualified personnel who bring an extensive portfolio of successful live operations to the fore. We are delighted with the success of this ground-breaking project which was completed safely without any incidents and proud of our involvement in supporting the Sandbank project.”