The CMROV 3 Refurbished
A second life for the evergreen SMD Cable Trenching ROV.
SMD delivered the CMROV 3 to CTC Marine in 2001. ACSM, the Spanish Subsea Contractor, bought SMD’s CMROV 3 as a second-hand asset in December 2017.
After taking delivery the vehicle required a major overhaul. A maintenance and refurbishment plan was developed with SMD’s services team in partnership with ACSM who provided operational feedback and technical guidance to bring the asset back to its prime condition. CMROV 3 now has a new lease of life and since 2018 it has been permanently mobilised on board the DP2 vessel Nautilus, burying and protecting hundreds of kilometres of fibre optic and power cables on projects worldwide.
An unstoppable 400HP Subsea Cable Trencher
CMROV 3 is a multi-purpose tool that can be deployed quickly and effectively from the Nautilus vessel. The adaptability of both the subsea asset and the vessel allows the combination to perform telecom cable maintenance, power cable trenching, ROV inspection services or other remedial burial and de-burial tasks.
CMROV 3 is adaptable because it is possible to use most of its available power for jet trenching. It is equipped with hydraulic tracks and a powerful jetting tool with 2.5m swords ensuring high performance in soil conditions including all sands, muds, silts and soft to medium strength clay mixes. The driving force behind the design is centred around the jet burial tool. SMD’s high flow jetting technology uses twin jet legs with remote width adjustment and positive (independent) depressor which includes integral cable detectors to demonstrate depth of burial.
The CMROV 3 delivers Post-Lay Inspection and Burial (PLIB) up to 2m for HV power Cables from Offshore Wind Farms or Fibre Optic cables installation, providing an efficient and cost-effective solutions. Major submarine cable companies hire ACSM and the CMROV 3 to carry out post-lay burial and survey where it is required while the main cable-lay vessel is still performing. The enables optimisation of the project schedule and operational days of the main cable lay vessel to be kept to a minimum.
A powerful Work-Class ROV for subsea interventions and inspections
When operating in free-fly mode, the CMROV 3 works as a powerful 400HP Work Class ROV. It can be deployed in a neutrally buoyant configuration so that full operability can be achieved. The adoption of a state-of-the art fibre optic MUX allows for the installation of a whole range of sensors and ancillary equipment: HD cameras, gradiometer array, different types of cable/pipe trackers, DVL, INS, MBES, SSS, SBP, Imaging Sonar. In this free-fly configuration, it is routinely used for inspection and survey tasks (UXO survey, cable route survey, UXO Identification, cable/pipe as-laid survey, environmental survey), as well as a number of subsea intervention tasks (cable cutting and repair ops, IMR, construction support, etc.). The huge amount of hydraulic power available makes it a great option for jetting, dredging or any other power intensive ROV tasks.
