Bisso Marine recently completed the salvage of a 105 Class Liftboat from 258 ft. of water from the Main Pass Area. The liftboat, which was believed to have sunk in much shallower water in the mid 1980's, was discovered to be on top of a 20-in. pipeline after Hurricane Ivan. Bisso Marine took extreme care to remove the liftboat to minimize the potential damage to the pipeline.
As a precautionary measure the liftboat was lifted several feet above the pipeline then moved several hundred feet northward before being lifted to the surface. Due to the depth of the water and because the liftboat needed to be lifted out of the water on location to be placed onto a materials barge for transport; Bisso Marine specially configured the 600 ton capacity D/B Lili Bisso with an A&R winch and two specially designed single sheave blocks. The liftboat was lifted from the -258 ft. seafloor to a +15 ft. materials barge in a single lifting operation.