46
Hi-Traq Jetter during trials
This demonstrator vehicle can still be viewed
today at their facility at the Port Of Blyth in the
North East of England.
The next phase in the development was to
produce In- house a full-scale, workable vehicle.
That vehicle was to become the Hi-Traq 1600,
which is now owned and operated worldwide by
Aratellus under the name “Leviathan” (see
separate story).
Although focused on power cable burial the Hi-
Traq 1600 is also capable of trenching a wide
range of products including umbilicals, flexibles
and ridged pipelines for the offshore Oil & Gas
market.
The High-Track 1600 featured multiple
capabilities such as jetting and cutting.
Generally, the cutting process benefits from a
significant amount of vehicle weight and as
such, the trencher was designed to weigh-In at
around 70t.
Jetting however, does not require as much
vehicle weight so when Royal IHC saw a market
requirement for an advanced, jetting-specific
tracked vehicle, their specialist Subsea
Technologies team undertook the development
of a new, smaller, lighter vehicle, which
ultimately became the Hi-Traq Jetter.
“The Hi-Traq Jetter is no less capable as a
jetting vehicle than its larger ‘predecessor,” said
Haylock,“ and still uses the patented field
proven self- levelling four-track concept, but it is
considerably lighter at around 20–25t.