Join the first industry-recognised specialist course on Route Clearance

  • Topic: Route Clearance - RECOA Specialist Course

  • Estimated study time: 6 hours of self-paced studies - To be completed in 12 weeks from enrolment.

  • Language: English

  • Instructors:
    Chris Weaver - Senior Instructor
    Martin Warming - RECOA Founder & Managing Partner

Take a peek inside this course

Learning Goals

Understand how to navigate route clearance, PLGR and how to conduct clearance operations during a new cable or pipeline installation


Clearance of Buried Cables 

Learn why buried disused cables may be difficult to detect and extract; why different seabed soils may require different tools; and how an out-of-service cable is recovered, cut, and laid clear of the new cable corridor. 

Pre Lay Grapnel Runs (PLGR)

Understand the limitations of PLGR; which vessel and deck arrangements will be most successful, and why it’s essential to ensure the vessel is provided with suitable tools for cable recovery.

Boulder Clearance

Explore on why boulder grabs are used in some locations and clearance ploughs are used in others. There is also an opportunity to study calculations that establish the most economical method of boulder clearance on your project

This RC specialist course covers:

  • The importance of a thorough route clearance

  • Methods used to locate out-of-service seabed cables

  • Specific tools to remove buried cables

  • Various seabed conditions

  • How to conduct Pre Lay Grapnel Runs (PLGR)

  • Handling and disposal of recovered materials

  • Potential salvage and recycling

  • Pipeline and cable crossing or proximity agreements

  • Safe conduct of operations

Bundle includes

Here are all the products that are included in your bundle.

Hear what our students have to say

"Never take for granted what many perceive to be a ‘simple operation’"

Gordon Foot, Offshore Client Representative

The Route Clearance Specialist Course is informative, engaging and pitched at the right depth of knowledge to ensure your learning thoroughly encompasses the many facets of this important task. Never take for granted what many perceive to be a ‘simple operation’. This course starts with the fundamentals but then expertly guides you through the many critical aspects any project must get to grips with to ensure a safe, efficient, and compliant route clearance.

"The course was invaluable, covering a lot of aspects"

Ngọc Tú Nguyễn

The course was invaluable, covering a lot of aspects from data collection, preparations, selection of marine vessel and gears, sequences of work and associated risks, marine operations, and lessons learned, etc. It's highly recommended for engineers and managers in the industry who want to minimize risks, schedule and costs for their projects.

The Route Clearance specialist course is for you if you can say yes to at least one of the following …

  • I am involved in managing subsea cable operations

  • I have experience as an Offshore Client Representative.

  • I am an experienced offshore or maritime professional

  • I am a technical graduate who wants to start an offshore career

  • I am a commercial fisherman or other stakeholder

  • I am a surveyor, ROV pilot, or professional diver.

About the RC Specialist Course

To understand how to remove cables from the seabed, you need to know how they were installed, why some were deliberately buried, and how different soils will require a different approach when deburying them.

Some recovery methods work well when cables are on the surface of the seabed or shallowly buried, but are unsuitable for deeply buried assets.

During this course, we shall be studying the tools and methods used to locate and remove out-of-service assets from a new cable corridor. We’ll discuss exactly why we can't risk leaving them in the path of the new cable, and the potential consequences if they are allowed to remain in place.

We’ll be investigating why formal agreements are needed to cross or bring our tools close to a cable or pipeline owned by someone else, and the consequences if an in-service asset is damaged by our route clearance operation. 

And investigate how information from cable installation reports can provide valuable intelligence when planning clearance operations, and finally, there will be a couple of real-life experiences illustrating just how not every job goes according to plan.

What to Expect from this Education Programme

Our aim is to supply extensive background information so that onshore management teams, offshore representatives, vessel managers, surveyors and deck crews understand how the route clearance and PLGR should be conducted and why the timing of these events will be crucial for the safe installation of a new cable or pipeline. 

Intelligence gathering about old cables is crucial when planning these operations, and understanding the local fisheries and potential seasonal environmental restrictions on work is equally important.

We’re now realising that once we have finished using the seabed we have to leave it in a similar state to how we found it, so future cable operations could require extensive recovery and recycling operations, which we shall also investigate during the course.

 Most importantly, we shall look at the safety aspects of route clearance and how to minimise the risk of injury during these physically demanding operations.

Your Instructors

Senior Instructor, RECOA Chris Weaver

Chris Weaver has more than 40 years of seagoing experience, beginning as a marine science student aboard a research vessel in the mid-1970s. His early career included serving in the British Royal Navy as a seaman officer, later specialising as a hydrographic surveyor. He then worked on subsea projects for Shell, BP, Total, ENI, and other smaller oil and gas operators before becoming a shipboard project manager for Alcatel Submarine Networks. Between 2006 and 2016, Chris was involved in various West African oil field projects, managing offshore construction and maintenance work in Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, and Ghana during the winter, and power cable installation at various European offshore wind farms during the summer months. Chris became involved in training in 2014 when he designed the Renewables Offshore Client Representative course and presented it as classroom training in the UK over the following four years. He has a long association with Martin Schnoor Warming, founder of the Renewable Construction Academy, and they have collaborated on various renewable projects since 2010.

Founder & Senior Instructor, RECOA Martin Warming

Martin Schnoor Warming is the leading founder of the Renewable Construction Academy. In addition to his background as a Master Mariner and Marine Engineer, he has extensive marine and offshore construction experience, accumulated over more than 15 years in the maritime, oil and gas, and renewable sectors. Since 2008, he has been managing offshore wind and renewable projects for cable installation contractors, survey companies, utility companies, and leading offshore wind farm developers. For the past 10 years, Martin has served as a Senior Consultant in the offshore renewable industry. In 2013, he founded RE-CON MANAGEMENT, a consultancy offering management and advisory services to top offshore wind developers and insurance companies in offshore construction, subsea engineering, subsea cables, and project management. To date, Martin has provided consultancy and been involved in the design, engineering, construction, and surveying of subsea power cable circuits, supporting more than 10,800 MW of offshore wind capacity.

The education material includes:

  • Video

    In some of the videos the instructor will talk directly to you. In other videos you will be presented with relevant material while the instructor speaks in the background.

  • Illustrations

    Photographs are used to illustrate important parts of the education process. They will help you to visualise and identify the subjects presented by the instructor.

  • Audio

    An audio sound track together with text subtitles is provided for most modules. You have the option to hear or read the content of each module.

  • Text

    Some lessons are presented as text. Many of these are accompanied by pictures or videos. You also have the option to listen to the text lessons as an audio presentation.

  • Graphics

    The graphics that appear in the lessons are carefully selected to support the education material. A complex operation is often better represented as an animated graphic than as a verbal or text description.

  • Downloadable content

    Some of the learning material in this education will be downloadable. By downloading the material it become easier to access it, even when you are offline.