The “Master Class” for explosive ordnance disposal takes place in the high seas. When locating and recovering ordnance offshore, it’s considerably more demanding than on land. However, as new offshore construction keeps emerging – windfarms being one potent example – it’s of crucial importance to clear also those mines and bombs that lie below the surface.
Over the years, Heinrich Hirdes GmbH had accumulated significant EOD expertise – to the extent that an independent entity, Heinrich Hirdes EOD Services GmbH (HHEOD), was founded in 2012 to deal with the specific UXO challenges in the offshore environment. Using the latest state-of-the-art technology, HHEOD offshore specialists locate, classify and clear ordnance in the sea and in coastal shallows. With the full marine resources of parent company Boskalis at its disposal, the EOD Offshore team has a remarkable underwater track record in searching the seabed and eliminating the threat posed by UXOs.
What makes our offshore EOD tick
Beneath the surface
In finding explosive ordnances in the bottom of the sea, we rely on various methods. For each offshore project, we compose careful risk profiles and plan the operation with care. At this time, our biggest customer is the renewables market – around 90% of our offshore projects involve clearing the seabed for offshore wind farm cables.
In the clearing process, we only resort to detonations as the last possible measure, with the aim of rendering the explosives – eg. mines and torpedos – harmless using other means. Safeguarding the seabed ecosystem is something that we take very seriously. If detonations are required, they are performed remotely, safely and from appropiate distance.
Diverless operations
Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) clearance is a critical task that involves the identification and disposal of explosive remnants from past conflicts. Traditionally, this task has been performed by human divers, but from 2011, we have started to use Work Class Remotely Operated Vehicles (WROVs) for these tasks, in order to significantly improve on safety and efficiency.