Subsea Tooling Services (STS) has recently completed final tests of their new Predator Subsea Dredger at The Underwater Centre’s open-water site in Fort William.
According to The Underwater Centre, their main objective was to prove that the Predator Subsea Dredger was as efficient, if not better, than the other dredgers that are currently on the market.
As this dredging system is a new concept in the world market, STS needed to prove its capabilities to their clients and confirm their development tests by filming the dredger in action in conditions such as it will be used in offshore. The subsea trials more than exceeded their expectations in terms of efficiency and performance, said the company.
The dredger underwent a number of trials, fitted to the Triton XL26 work class ROV used for training and trials at The Underwater Centre:
– The initial aim was to time how long it took to dredge the yellow kort nozzle that can be seen in this video, which had been rock dumped with 9 tonnes of 50-60mm rocks. The task was completed between 8-9 minutes, making the dredging rate 1 ton per minute;
– The next step was to dredge larger rocks. The Predator system dredged 100-130mm rocks in attempt to break the dredger and looking for weak spots, but none were found, proving the strength of the system;
– Finally, the agitator system was tested. This system shoots out jets of water at the suction head end, directly into the seabed, breaking up the peat at the bottom of Loch Linnhe and dredging it at the same time. This is a unique function on the Predator dredger which worked exceptionally well while not affecting the performance of the dredger.
Billy Milne , Business Development Manager from STS, said: “The Underwater Centre is the only facility within the UK that could have undertaken the task of testing and filming the Predator Dredger. The highly skilled ROV team demonstrated their ability to handle such an operation.
“From planning the scope of work to operating the ROV with the Predator Dredger and subsequently delivering footage of the trial, The Underwater Centre has provided a service that is invaluable to our company.”