Our client recently successfully removed a total of 9 anchor piles from the floor of the North Sea. The piles had been used to secure oil & gas structures to the seabed. As the platforms had been dismantled and regulations require all remains to be removed, the 9 anchor piles also had to go.

To connect the 1412C Vibratory Hammer to the anchor piles, an adapter piece was designed to connect the vibratory hammer and the clamp to the anchors.

The piles were at 145m water depth. This required the hammer to be fitted with a pressure regulator. Compressed air for the pressure regulator was supplied to the hammer by an air compressor located on deck of the vessel.

The positioning of the hammer was guided by remote controlled robot diver, and the yellow markings on the hammer and clamp helped sharpen the images in the dim light conditions at this water depth.

In the past, platform owners often chose to cut the piles at seafloor level, but since this is now prohibited, using a vibratory hammer is a cost-effective way to remove the pile in their entire length.

The main advantage of choosing an ICE vibratory hammer when removing anchor piles from the seabed is that a machine like ICE 1412C, with a medium high frequency operating at a constant power, in combination with the clamp’s large jaw plate surface area, loosens and then extracts the steel casing intact, even when it has been worn down by a saline water environment. None of the 9 piles were torn during the extraction. The steel can be recycled, in closed material loop recycling.

An additional advantage of extracting piles with a Vibratory Hammer is how fast the process is. Depending on the type of soil, removal can be achieved in under 15 minutes for each pile. The steel can be recycled, in a closed material loop recycling.

No pile is too deep, too small, nor too large for our hammer fleet! Give us a call today to get professional advice for your next underwater job!