# Moorix Marine Systems > Screw anchors for fish and mussel farms, marinas and docks, and helical piles for waterfront structures, with the installation torque of every anchor recorded. A screw anchor, also called a helical anchor, is a galvanized steel shaft with helical plates, turned into the seabed by a hydraulic motor from a work boat. A concrete block holds by its weight and loses about 43% of it in seawater; a steel anchor holds by dragging the blade at its tip (its fluke) into the bottom, and needs heavy chain on the seabed to keep the pull low at the anchor. A screw anchor holds by the soil above its plates, so it takes an upward pull, needs a much shorter line (a scope of about 2:1 instead of 5:1), leaves no chain on the bottom to drag, and takes load the day it goes in. The installation torque of every anchor is recorded and converted to a calculated capacity (Qult = Kt × T); where a project calls for it, a pull test on selected anchors confirms the estimate. Its limit: it needs a seabed it can be screwed into (sand, silt, mud or mixed), not rock. ## Facts - Company: MusselPro Mühendislik Ltd., registered in Istanbul, Türkiye. It works under two names: Moorix Marine Systems, which installs the anchors, and mussel.pro (https://www.mussel.pro), which designs the moorings. Both names belong to the same company. - Sales office: Amsterdam, the Netherlands (Mon–Fri · 07:00 – 18:00 CET). - Service area: worldwide. - Record: 500+ anchors installed; 15+ years in aquaculture, farming and anchoring. - Engineer & Director: Emre Küçükçolak. Chemical engineer (BSc, Boğaziçi University) and environmental engineer (M.E., University of Florida), with 15+ years in mussel farming and aquaculture. Designs each mooring under mussel.pro and leads the installation under Moorix. Works in English, German, Spanish, Dutch and Turkish. - Corrosion protection: hot-dip galvanized to ASTM A123/A153; heavier galvanizing or an added coating at aggressive sites. - Typical depth into the seabed: 2 to 6 m. The anchor goes down until it reaches its target torque, not to a set depth. - Water depth: installed to 80 m; deeper sites by arrangement. - Jobs on record, all in Türkiye: - Misya Seafood mussel farm, Koyun Island, Balıkesir: an anchor set at 15 m in 2014, photographed in service in 2022; another set at 35 m in 2016 (4 m anchor, 600 mm helix plate). - Pınar Hotel, Erdek, Balıkesir, 2021: 14 screw anchors, 2 m long with 60 cm plates, in loose sand for a floating-dock system, each rated to a 4.3 t safe working load established by on-site pull testing, and 4 more in deeper water for boat moorings. Photographs show Posidonia oceanica seagrass growing up to the head of an anchor in service as a boat mooring. - Enquiries: the estimate form at https://www.moorix.pro/contact. An engineer replies within 24 hours with questions and a first read; the full proposal follows within two business days. ## Pages - [Home](https://www.moorix.pro/): What a screw anchor is and what it replaces, the industries served, underwater footage of an anchor going in, and how the torque record works. - [Screw anchors vs blocks and steel anchors](https://www.moorix.pro/technology/comparison): Concrete blocks, steel anchors and screw anchors in one table, row by row: how each holds, holding for its weight, upward pull, storms, a swinging load direction, scope and ground chain, space on the lease, position, installation, capacity and seabed footprint, and which seabed each one suits. - [Installation and torque record](https://www.moorix.pro/technology/torque-capacity): The five installation steps, underwater footage, a finished anchor, and how the recorded installation torque becomes a calculated capacity (Qult = Kt × T), with the documents each job gets. - [Environment and seagrass](https://www.moorix.pro/environment): Conservation moorings: a screw anchor and a floating rope in place of a block and ground chain, what a galvanized anchor leaves in the water, the law protecting seagrass meadows, and photographs of Posidonia oceanica around an anchor in service. - [FAQ](https://www.moorix.pro/resources): Short answers on how screw anchors hold, capacity, depth, soft seabeds, wave loading, service life, the environment, permits and cost. All of them are below. - [About](https://www.moorix.pro/about): The company and its engineer, and a few of its installations in photographs with their figures. - [Contact](https://www.moorix.pro/contact): The project estimate form. ## Industries - [Aquaculture moorings](https://www.moorix.pro/industries/aquaculture): Fish-cage farms first (steel anchors of 500–5,000 kg compared with screw anchors, with a cage-grid plan of the sea a shorter scope frees), then mussel and shellfish farms (concrete blocks compared with screw anchors, with a lease plan), and seabed photographs from the Misya mussel farm. - [Marinas & harbors](https://www.moorix.pro/industries/marina): Conservation moorings on screw anchors: a fixed point with a smaller swing circle, no chain scouring the seagrass, permits, and the 2021 Pınar Hotel job at Erdek. - [Commercial marine](https://www.moorix.pro/industries/commercial): Helical piles for seawall stabilization, bulkhead tiebacks and dock foundations, installed at near-zero vibration with a torque record and calculated capacity for every pile. ## Frequently asked questions ### What are helical piles and screw anchors? Steel shafts with one or more helical plates, screwed into the ground by hydraulic torque instead of being dug in or driven. Once at depth, the plates bear against the soil and carry tension, compression and lateral load. They go by several names: screw anchors, helical anchors, screw piles, helical piers, torque anchors and earth anchors. Installation torque is recorded as each one goes in and converted to a calculated holding capacity (Qult = Kt × T). ### How do screw anchors compare with concrete blocks and steel anchors? A concrete block holds by its weight and its friction on the bottom; a steel anchor by being dragged until its fluke (the blade at its tip) digs in; a screw anchor by plates bearing on the soil at depth. The screw anchor holds as a fixed point at the coordinates you give, on a much shorter scope (about 2:1 instead of 5:1), with no ground chain. Its limit: it needs a seabed it can be screwed into, not rock. More: https://www.moorix.pro/technology/comparison ### How is holding capacity known at installation? From the installation torque. The final torque (T), averaged over the last three helix diameters of penetration into the soil, is multiplied by the published torque factor (Kt) for the anchor's shaft size to give its ultimate capacity: Qult = Kt × T. Every anchor gets a torque record with that calculated capacity before the crew leaves. Where the project calls for it, a pull test on selected anchors confirms the estimate. Your engineer of record decides what the file needs. More: https://www.moorix.pro/technology/torque-capacity ### How quickly can the anchors be loaded after installation? The same day. Once an anchor reaches its target installation torque it can take its design load: there is no concrete to cure and no grout to set. Your mooring, dock, farm structure or foundation connection can be made while the crew is still on site, which matters most when the work has to fit a seasonal window. ### How deep are screw anchors installed? Typically 2 to 6 metres into the seabed, but there is no fixed depth. The anchor goes down until its plates reach soil firm enough for the required capacity, which the installation torque over the last three helix diameters shows: less in firm, dense soil, and in soft harbour mud shaft extensions take the plates deeper. The crew stops at the target torque, not at a set depth. More: https://www.moorix.pro/technology/torque-capacity ### Do they work in very soft mud or silt? Yes, as long as firmer soil can be reached at depth. Shaft extensions carry the plates past the soft surface layers, larger plates bear on more soil, and extra plates along the shaft engage several depths at once. Capacity then depends on the strength of that deeper soil, which is why we review the soil data before choosing the configuration. ### How do they perform under continuous cyclic wave loading? Well, when they are sized for it. Screw anchors recover from repeated wave and current loading when it stays well below their ultimate capacity (Qult). We size marine installations so design storm loads stay well below Qult, with safety factors from a site-specific load analysis, and the installation torque then gives each anchor's calculated capacity. ### How long do screw anchors last in saltwater? Service life is set mainly by corrosion. The anchors are hot-dip galvanized to ASTM A123/A153, and how long that coating lasts depends on its thickness and the exposure: splash zone, tidal zone, permanently submerged or below the mudline. Below the mudline, where the load-bearing plates sit, oxygen is scarce and corrosion is slow. Aggressive sites get thicker galvanizing or an added coating. Each project gets a site-specific corrosion design, not a blanket lifespan figure. More: https://www.moorix.pro/environment ### Does installation stir up sediment, vibrate or make noise? Very little. The anchor is turned in, not dug or hammered: no sediment is brought to the surface, turbidity is low, vibration is near zero, and there is none of the impulsive underwater noise of pile driving. That suits work near sensitive habitats and next to existing structures, though in-water work windows are set by the permitting authority for each site. More: https://www.moorix.pro/environment ### Are screw anchors safe for the marine environment? They leave far less behind than a block and chain. Nothing is dug out, only the anchor head stands at the seabed, and with a floating rope no chain sweeps the bottom, so a ring a chain kept bare is free to grow back. The galvanizing releases zinc slowly as it protects the steel; whether that matters at your site is a question for its environmental assessment, and we supply the full coating specification to answer it. More: https://www.moorix.pro/environment ### What is a conservation mooring? A mooring with no chain on the bottom. A screw anchor turned into the seabed replaces the concrete block, and a floating rope replaces the ground chain, so nothing sweeps the seabed between the anchor head and the buoy. The ring a chain kept bare is free to grow back with seagrass such as eelgrass or Posidonia. Whether an authority encourages or requires conservation moorings depends on the jurisdiction and the habitat. More: https://www.moorix.pro/environment ### Do I need a permit to install a screw anchor mooring? Usually, yes. In most jurisdictions in-water mooring works need authorization; in the United States that is typically a Section 10/404 permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, plus state and local approvals. A conservation mooring has less habitat impact to document (no excavation, no spoil, no chain on the bottom), which makes the application simpler to prepare, though no outcome is guaranteed. We supply the installation records, torque logs and specification for the file. More: https://www.moorix.pro/industries/marina ### What determines the cost of a screw anchor installation? The project, not a fixed price per anchor. The main drivers are the design load (which sets the shaft, plate size and number of plates), the soil, water depth and access, the number of anchors and the mobilisation, the corrosion protection, and how much documentation and permit support you need. Against a block mooring, there is no crane barge to hire and no curing to wait for. 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