With increasing awareness of accelerated corrosion at or just below the low-water mark of steel piling structures in European harbours a multinational project was sponsored by the European Coal and Steel Community to determine the involvement of biological and physico-chemical factors in this process and to establish possible protective measures against this form of attack. This special form of corrosion could not be explained with standard corrosion mechanisms, therefore, site assessments of European harbours were performed combining screening for biological, enviromnental, chemical and physical factors in order to investigate possible microbiological influence on the corrosion process. The data collected were statistically analysed and significant parameters, differentiating between accelerated and normal low-water corrosion sites, were identified and carefully screened for their possible role in the accelerated low-water corrosion phenomenon. Combining the results of field and laboratory studies, the cause of accelerated low-water corrosion could be identified as microbiologically-influenced. The results presented in this communication are enclosed in the final report to the European
Commission. In this report, the participants of the project offer recommendations regarding protective measures against accelerated low-water corrosion of steel sheet piling.