Trawling is a major contributor to damage and failure of subsea pipelines. Detecting such activity at an early stage increases the probability of introducing cost-efficient mitigation measures before expensive repairs are necessary. The DNV trawl track online application will support activity and equipment monitoring of trawling to avoid damage or errors of marine structures by providing interactive online reports, analysis and statistics on trawl activities.
Trawl Track uses data from AIS (automatic identification system) combined with vessel-specific information on trawl gear to facilitate informed decisions related to the design and operation of subsea assets.
Users can get information on:
- Distribution of trawl gear weights
- Distribution of vessel nationalities
- Vessel frequencies over pipelines
- Distribution of vessel velocities
- Maps showing activity and location of trawlers.
Features vary depending on specific needs
The data obtained from Trawl Track may have several applications.
In the design phase:
- Establish design premise with information on trawl frequency and equipment weights (ref. DNV-RP-F111)
- Input to structural reliability assessments (SRA)
- Investigate particular equipment weight and type.
- Input to maintain the required safety level specified in the design and consent to operate
- Optimize inspection frequencies and locations of special interest
- Locate where to implement corrective intervention
- Monitor problem areas along the pipeline route
- Support decisions related to location of subsea rock installation for pipelines
- Trend trawl activity; equipment size and frequencies to identify if re assessment and identify corrective intervention should be performed
- For life extension applications to document equipment weights and frequencies.