Shipwreck salvaged by deconstruction

Norwegian company Kristiansand Bygg has salvaged a shipwrecked vessel by deconstructing it while it was still under the water.

The M/S Osfjord, which sank off the coast of Trøndelag in Norway during a storm in September 2018, was cut into sections and loaded onto a waiting barge.

Kristiansand Bygg used 11 mm DWH-S Premium saw wire by Tyrolit and two FZ-4S hydraulic wall saw bodies mounted on VAS rails to complete the project.

Taking special care to prevent polluting the ocean, the specialist contractor made a total of seven cuts with 350 m (1,148 ft) of diamond wire saw to deconstruct the submerged vessel.

It took 26 days to dismantle the vessel, which was loaded onto the barge in sections as the job progressed.

The Norwegian Coast Guard monitored the project and continuously inspected the seabed to ensure no contaminated residue was left behind.

According to equipment manufacturer Tyrolit, several salvage attempts using different methods had already been made without success, before Kristiansand Bygg was appointed.