A three-week project in New Caledonia

Bourbon Subsea Services teams overcame a real challenge in repairing, at a depth of 40 meters and within three weeks, a damaged marine outfall pipe for the mining company Vale in New Caledonia (France).

« Performing underwater operations is part of our job, but in this case we were working for a mining company. Thus it is not a regular customer. Vale was in a bind, waiting for a professional response," » Jean-Charles A. explains. Based in Singapore, the Bourbon Subsea Services project manager has just completed an unusual mission: an emergency repair of a broken marine outfall in New Caledonia (France), in a listed UNESCO area.

In over 40 meters of water, this large pipe discharging treated industrial wastewater for Vale NC (New Caledonia) needed to be repaired as soon as possible, in order to allow operations to resume. Fabien Poure, Maintenance Director for the nickel production company and project manager on the job to repair the outfall, selected the BOURBON affiliate specialized in inspection, maintenance and repair of subsea installations "for its expertise in submarine operations."

Among the other advantages: the availability of the Bourbon Evolution 803 with its ROVs (remote operating vehicles), and sailing under the French flag, which sped up the permitting process to work at the site. To save time, the whole disassembled system was brought on board. Then, on the trip from Singapore to New Caledonia, it has been installed, configured, and tested. Therefore, thanks to this responsiveness, the Bourbon Evolution 803 was operational upon arrival at the site, with 75 people on board. As the General Contractor, Bourbon Subsea Services also coordinated the work of 12 divers from the firm Boskalis, who worked day and night in shifts on this project, which was completed in a record time of three weeks.

It was a job performed "symbiotically between the teams from BOURBON and Vale," according to the Project Manager, to the customer's total satisfaction.