The Kongsberg Simrad supplied integrated positioning & multibeam package used by Thales GeoSolutions and Sonsub in a detailed survey of the Prestige tanker wreck has produced several industry firsts. Phase I of the Prestige site survey was carried out to examine the integrity of the vessel's hull, in order that a decision could be made on how to handle the remaining cargo of oil trapped inside the crippled wreck, which lies on the seabed at a depth of (3,850 m).
Kongsberg Simrad supplied the following three industry first systems, which were integrated with Thales’ & Sonsub’s Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) for the survey:
4000m rated LBL transponders & ROV HPR transceivers; EM2000, ROV mounted Multi-beam echo sounding system; Hydroacoustic Aided Inertial Navigation (HAIN) system, integrated into the LBL system.
The survey was carried out from the operational vessel, the MSV Polar Prince, which as more than 75 percent of the world's offshore construction fleet, is fitted with a Kongsberg Simrad positioning system. In this case it was the HiPAP 500 system. Using the supplied equipment and with Kongsberg support, a Kongsberg Simrad HAIN system was integrated with the Long Base Line (LBL) array, laid around the two wreck sections, and the combined results achieved unprecedented, reliable and repeatable ROV positioning accuracy.
Kongsberg Simrad provided Survey Support Services to the project prior to, and during, the actual survey work. An intensive, project specific, training program was conducted in the weeks before the offshore phase and a Survey Support Engineer accompanied the systems.