During a heavy autumn storm in September 2018, the ship M/S Osfjord ran aground off the coast of Trøndelag in Norway. After several attempts to salvage the shipwreck were unsuccessful, a TYROLIT saw wire was used to salvage the wreck in pieces.

David Hawel

04.12.2019

During a heavy autumn storm in September 2018, the ship M/S Osfjord ran aground off the coast of Trøndelag in Norway. Several attempts to salvage the shipwreck were unsuccessful, as none of the used methods seemed to get the job done.

 

In a final attempt, the ship was to be cut into smaller pieces with a wire saw, so that parts of the wreck could be loaded onto a barge and brought ashore. The Norwegian company Kristiansand Bygg was awarded this contract. From the very beginning Kristiansand Bygg consulted TYROLIT, as the diamond tool manufacturer already had experience with similar projects. Due to the very bad weather forecast, however, the work had to be completed as quickly as possible.

Seven cuts with 350 m diamond saw wire and no time to loose

 

For the realisation of this project, the contractors selected the TYROLIT diamond saw wire DWH-S plus a wire saw from the Italian machine manufacturer Benetti. TYROLIT also mounted two FZ-4S hydraulic wall saw bodies on VAS rails, which could move upwards to ensure a sufficiently aggressive cutting angle. Overall, Kristiansand Bygg only needed 26 days and seven cuts to get the shipwreck safely onto the barge. The diamond saw wire DWH-S did a great job: Only 350 metres of wire were needed for the task, which is 100 metres less than initially assumed.

Working without polluting the sea

 

In addition to the challenging time frame, care had to be taken throughout the project not to pollute the sea. The Norwegian Coast Guard therefore continuously inspected the seabed with a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to ensure that the project did not leave any contaminated residue.

Alle Fotos Copyright Kristiansand Bygg AS

TYROLIT diamond tools and machines used for the project:

DWH-S PREMIUM saw wire

 

The saw wire DWH-S features very fast cutting performance, high longevity and security for the cutting of steel. With a diameter of 11 mm and 46 beads/m, it offers a reliable, cost-effective solution for many standard applications.

FZ-4S wall saw

 

The ‘work horse’ amongst hydraulic wall saws. The quick-separation flange on the swivel arm provides simple and fast blade replacement, and facilitates flush cutting applications. By using the FZ-4S wall saw together with hydraulic drives with outputs of up to 40 kW, blade diameters of up to 2,200 mm can be used.