The offshore survey company UTEC has announced the schedule for survey work along the route of the proposed WHVDC Link this summer. A notice to mariners about this work can be downloaded here. A brief summary of the survey work is presented below.
The WHVDC Link will be an undersea cable linking Ardneil in the Clyde with the Wirral in north-west England. Details of the project can be found on our website here.
UTEC proposed to carry out several survey activities along the route this summer, including:-
- Geophysical survey – due to start on 16th July 2012
- A detailed survey will be carried out on selected parts of the route using high resolution Boomer and sonar survey equipment.
- This survey is due to start at the Wirral. It is scheduled to be complete by 22nd July.
- Geotechnical survey – due to start on 23rd July 2012
- A detailed survey of the seabed composition will be carried out by taking vibro core samples at intervals along the whole route.
- ROV survey – due to start on 12th August 2012
- A Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) will be used to survey specific targets including cables and pipelines along the whole route.
- Inshore surveys – due to start on 6th August 2012 (Wirral) and first week of September (Ardneil).
- Ardneil: divers will survey the route to a depth of 15m (up to 1.5km offshore) using video, photography, and probes.
- Wirral: the route will be surveyed by a vessel using sonar equipment (single beam, multi beam and sidescan) between depths of 2m and 10m (up to 4km offshore). A 200m wide corridor will be surveyed.
Vessels
Offshore survey work will be carried out by the vessel ILV Granualie. Inshore survey work in the Wirral area will be carried out by the vessel Remote Sensor. The inshore survey work at Ardneil will be carried out by the vessel Yorkshire Lady.
Details of these vessels, including links to information at MarineTraffic.com is given below. The MarineTraffic.com website allows you to check the current location of these vessels as well as their recent movements.
- Granuaile | Call Sign – EIPT | MMSI 250191000
- Remote Sensor | Details tbc
- Yorkshire Lady | Call sign – EIHR7 | MMSI 250001815
During the survey these vessels may be deploying either underwater survey equipment and/or divers. During these times they will have restricted ability to manoeuvre and other vessels are requested to pass at a safe speed and distance.
Updates
It is anticipated that updates on the progress of this survey will be circulated every two weeks to give notice of where operations have been completed and where they are scheduled to begin.
Updates will be circulated to Mariners by UTEC, as well as by the Kingfisher Information Service and the AWJ Marine website. You can also register for our automatic updates about this project here.
If you have any queries about this project, please contact Jim Andrews, Fisheries Liaison Officer by e-mail or by phone on +44(0)7908-225865.