Seatools has received a contract from Jan De Nul for the design and delivery of a Fall Pipe ROV (FP-ROV) for the subsea rock installation vessel George W. Goethals. The ROV will form a key part of the vessel’s system for placing rock around subsea cables and foundations.
Installed at the lower end of the vessel’s vertical fall pipe, the ROV will control the horizontal positioning of the pipe’s outlet. It will also perform pre-, intermediate- and post-lay surveys to support accurate rock placement and verification of subsea works, helping to protect and stabilise subsea infrastructure such as cables and pipelines. Seatools’ subsea engineering team will work with Jan De Nul’s vessel design team to integrate the ROV with the ship’s fall-pipe system. The ROV will include Seatools’ Dynamic Positioning system, which automates precise subsea positioning and includes an Auto-Track function for following predefined tracks during rock installation. Delivery of the FP-ROV is planned for 2027.
