Hydrographic Services

Fugro to Deploy Latest RAMMS Tech to Map Lake Huron

Fugro is mobilizing its Rapid Airborne Multibeam Mapping System (RAMMS) to Ontario, Canada, to acquire 3,147 square kilometers of high-resolution bathymetry data over Lake Huron for the Canadian Hydrographic Service (CHS).The survey is expected to last six months from data collection to data delivery and will support the agency’s ongoing nautical charting updates in the country’s Great Lakes region.Fugro has used RAMMS throughout North America, the Caribbean and Europe since launching the next-generation airborne lidar system in 2018. In addition to nautical charting, RAMMS has supported

Vestdavit Wins NOAA Marine Davit Deal

to provide service, support and spares for the variety of marine davits it has supplied to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).NOAA operates a fleet of research and survey vessels that conduct a wide variety of missions, including oceanographic research, marine life studies and hydrographic surveys. Davits are needed to handle RHIBS of different sizes and 30ft Hydrographic Survey Launches, depending on the NOAA mission.The all-embracing five-year contract is valued at up to US$2.5 million and aligns with U.S. Department of Commerce requirements. It covers 20 davits delivered to multiple

Ultrabeam, USS team up to deliver Autonomous Pipeline Survey

Ultrabeam Hydrographic teamed up with Unmanned Survey Solutions (USS) to conduct a pair of subsea gas pipeline inspection surveys in Northern Ireland.   Both companies are based in the UK and offer unmanned platforms as an alternative to traditional manned survey vessels.  The contract was awarded by Mutual Energy, which wanted experience on how unmanned autonomous platforms can increase the knowledge of their pipelines while reducing risk and overall cost."Mutual Energy contracted with Ultrabeam Hydrographic in August 2020 to perform inspection surveys of our Larne and Belfast

Petrobras Taps Oceaneering for BOP Tethering Services

Subsea services provider Oceaneering has been awarded a BOP tethering services contract offshore Brazil with the Brazilian oil firm Petrobras.The scope of work under the contract includes data acquisition and real-time riser analysis for dynamic positioning rig operations for up to seven wells in water depths between 150 meters and 700 meters.The contract is for one year with the option to extend for an additional year.  Oceaneering did not provide the financial details of the deal.Oceaneering will provide eight suction piles that will be manufactured locally as well as 10 wellhead load relief

PLA, USS Support University College London Course

The Port of London (PLA) Hydrographic department teamed up with Unmanned Survey Solutions (USS) to provide educational support to University College London’s (UCL) IHO CAT A course in Hydro-graphic Surveying.The PLA have supported the University by providing lectures in current Hydrographic techniques and equipment as well as supporting their student field projects.  However, due to COVID-19 restrictions, the final element of this year’s support had to be conducted virtually.  The PLA, in conjunction with the USS and UCL, devised a two-week schedule which incorporated a combination

Maersk Supply Service, Ørsted Working on Offshore Charging Buoy

Danish offshore vessel specialist Maersk Supply Service and its compatriot offshore wind developer Ørsted have teamed up to test a prototype offshore charging buoy.The buoy will act as a safe mooring point and a charging station for vessels, potentially displacing a significant amount of marine fuel with "green" electricity. The prototype buoy has been developed by Maersk Supply Service while Ørsted is responsible for the buoy’s integration with the electrical grid at the offshore wind farm. The charging buoy will be tested in the second half of 2021, where it will

Four HUGIN AUVs for the Indian Navy

vessels currently in build for the Indian Navy. GRSE Chairman and Managing Director Rear Admiral (Ret’d) Vipin Saxena said: “We are pleased and look forward to making use of the HUGIN AUVs from KONGSBERG, which will augment the Indian Navy’s capabilities for coastal and deep-water hydrographic surveys to aid maritime operations, and will act as a force multiplier.”The AUVs will be supplied with containers and launch and recovery systems, plus training and support

Valeport onboard Mayflower Autonomous Ship project

are immensely proud that our instruments are involved in the project,” said Kevin Edwards, Valeport’s Head of Sales.Valeport has supplied the subsea sector for more than 50 years and continues to innovate and lead the way in the design and manufacture of precision instrumentation for the hydrographic and oceanographic communities.https://www.marinetechnologynews.com/news/solar-powered-autonomous-mayflower-604843Photo Courtesy: Mayflower Autonomous Ship project/Valepor

Curtin Joins Acteon as TerraSond Managing Director

into an agile, multidisciplinary, client-focused survey company. Thomas is stepping back from his role as managing director but will continue as a consultant and to assist Bill during the transition to his new role.”TerraSond’s recent milestones include winning a seventh consecutive hydrographic surveying contract with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) worth up to $250 million over five years across all contractors; providing site investigation work for offshore wind projects; and pioneering the use of automatous survey vessels. With other Acteon companies, TerraSond

USS Delivers Unmanned Surface Vessel to Tetra Tech

something small, portable, and customizable to our requirements all in a short delivery timeframe. This USV has a stable catamaran configuration and modular payload pods which stood out from the other USVs on the market in this size class. Working with the team at USS it was evident that practical hydrographic surveying knowledge had influenced the platform design from day one. They understand not only how to build the vessels, but how they will be used in the field. It's clear that this USV has been designed for surveyors, by surveyors. The knowledge and professionalism of the team at USS

New Survey Boat Launched for South African Navy

Paramount Maritime, a Paramount Group company, said it has launched the first of three next-generation Survey Motor Boats (SMBs) to the South African Navy in continued support of its programs to enhance the capabilities and infrastructure of the South African Navy Hydrographic Office (SANHO).In addition to the three Survey Motor Boats to be delivered to the South African Navy Hydrographic Office (SANHO), this program also provides for the delivery of a Hydrographic Survey Vessel and a Sea Boat as well as a third, fully operational inshore Survey Motor Boat, to remain ashore and in reserve.Veecraft

Ocean Influencer: Mike Read, Teledyne Marine

, instruments, imaging, interconnect and seismic solutions. Here are some latest technology advances:Z-Boat 1800T, Trimble Edition(Teledyne Oceanscience)Teledyne Marine’s new Z-Boat 1800T ready for your next inspection or mapping project.The Z-BOAT 1800-T is a high-resolution shallow water hydrographic unmanned survey vehicle with an Odom Echotrac E20 Singlebeam Echosounder and dual antenna Trimble BX992 GNSS heading receiver. Each sensor is integrated into a compact, portable, and cost-effective package. The combination of Trimble’s precise heading and positioning/guidance paired with

Sea-Kit's Uncrewed Surface Vessel Ends 22-Day Offshore Mission

bathymetric surveying as they remotely operated the multibeam and ensured optimized data acquisition. USVs to redefine offshore operationsTravis Hamilton, Product Manager at Teledyne CARIS said: “At Teledyne CARIS, we are inspired by projects that align with our passion for innovation in hydrographic survey. We were pleased to support this project with our automated hydrographic processing solutions CARIS Onboard and CARIS Mira AI that apply workflows designed to remotely support the unique challenges of uncrewed surveys from shore-based stations.” The proven ability to conduct

Fugro's New USV to Chart Waters Off South Australia

waters of South Australia’s Gulf St Vincent and Investigator Strait as part of the Australian Government’s HydroScheme Industry Partnership Program (HIPP).The Dutch-based offshore survey services company will carry out  the 998 km2 survey will be conducted on behalf of the Australian Hydrographic Office (AHO), which will use the data to update nautical charts for safer navigation. Data will also be shared with scientific agencies, including Geoscience Australia and the national AusSeabed community.This area within Gulf St Vincent and Investigator Strait is the major waterway for the

iXblue Equips Ifremer's New 6000m AUV

;s AUV design perfectly. Successful former experience with Echoes 5 000 will be reconducted with the upcoming, optimized new generation release of the sub-bottom profiler.”“We are very excited to be onboard the CORAL project and to offer turnkey SAS technology to Ifremer scientific and hydrographic surveyors,” states Lionel Fauré, technical and business Manager of iXblue Sonar Systems Division. With extended expertise in combining sonar, inertial navigation and acoustic positioning technologies, iXblue has developed one of the most advanced and accurate solutions for seabed

Swathe Services Takes Delivery of SBG Ekinox Navsight INS

Swathe Services has recently added the SBG Ekinox Navsight to its equipment demo pool. After trials on manned and unmanned vessels operating under bridges, in harbors and offshore for hydrographic applications, the performance of the Ekinox Inertial Navigation System (INS) has been exceptional, the company reports.Its small compact subsea form factor and weight makes this system light and easy to install with portable sonar systems. It is suited for shallow water applications and comes at a good price, the manufacturer says.James Williams, Managing Director at Swathe, says, "Since we became the

UKHO Taps Sparkes as Acting Chief Executive

The U.K. Hydrographic Office has announced the appointment of Rear Admiral Peter Sparkes, the current U.K. National Hydrographer and Deputy Chief Executive, to the position of acting chief executive and accounting officer.Sparkes will hold the position while a permanent replacement is sought for Tim Lowe CBE, the previous UKHO chief executive and accounting officer, who announced his retirement Friday.Commenting on Lowe’s retirement, Sparkes said, “On behalf of the senior leadership team and all at the U.K. Hydrographic Office, I want to acknowledge and thank Tim for the significant

Geo Plus Takes Delivery of New Survey Vessel

Dutch shipbuilder Royal Niestern Sander has delivered the hydrographic survey vessel ‘Geo Ranger’ to Geo Plus, after 14 months of constructing, installing, commissioning and testing.The vessel last month successfully passed its sea trials on the river Ems.The ship was designed together with Conoship International BV and will be rented out by Geo Plus to parties that perform research, such as dredging companies and companies that build and maintain offshore wind farms. The 41 meters long, 8.7 meters wide  DP2 Geo Ranger is equipped with two high-class Azimuth stern thrusters and

Oceaneering Nets 3-year Inspection Services Contract with Chevron in Angola

Offshore and subsea services provider Oceaneering has secured a contract with Chevron's Angola subsidiary Cabinda Gulf Oil Company Limited (CABGOC)Under the three-year contract, Oceaneering's Asset Integrity division will provide inspection services onshore Cabinda, Angola, and offshore Angola on Blocks 0 and 14. The contract is scheduled to begin in Q2 2020.Oceaneering said that the contract award followed a recent contract win for inspection services for a major Middle East operator based in Dubai.Kishore Sundararajan, Senior Vice President, Asset Integrity Group, stated: “We are

USVs: A Solution for Inspecting Dams and Guarding Waterways

a family of MANTAS unmanned vessels built on a catamaran hull. Ameren Missouri selected a twelve-foot MANTAS for this underwater bathymetric imaging. For this task, the MANTAS was equipped with a Teledyne Reson T20 Multi-beam Echo-sounder/Sonar.(Photo: Jack Rowley)The objective of the Keokuk Dam hydrographic survey was to map and inspect underwater structures with an unmanned surface vehicle followed by the USV performing the survey of the upstream and downstream sections of the dam. The deliverable was a comprehensive, on-location hydrographic survey which further evolved into a complete high-resolution

For the Royal Australian Navy, Technological Leap Starts Small

ship in the class, HMAS Huon (M 82) will be 21 years old this May. The MHCs are slow and are not always available where and when they are needed. Furthermore, they need to enter mined areas to find the mines.  Captain Bryan Parker, the  RAN’s Commander Mine Warfare, Clearance Diving, Hydrographic, Meteorological, Oceanographic and Patrol Force (COMMHP), said the Task Group MCM capability aimed to provide a tactical capability essential to reducing the hazard of mines in the littoral maritime domain for Navy’s deployed Fleet, while also  minimizing direct exposure of its personnel

Rovco Opens Edinburgh Office

to the offshore energy industry has opened a new office and operational base in Edinburgh, Scotland to serve its current portfolio of offshore renewable and energy projects renewable and energy projects."Rovco aims to continue to support both the offshore wind and broader energy sector offering Hydrographic, Operations & Maintenance and Construction support services," the company said.The office will house its operational team, while there are also plans to find an East Coast Quayside location for deployment of Rovco's equipment and technology.“This Edinburgh office represents

Geo Ranger Survey Vessel Passes Sea Trials

The hydrographic survey vessel Geo Ranger has this week successfully passed sea trials on the river Ems, the Dutch Shipbuilder Royal Niestern Sander said Thursday."In presence of the client Geo Plus, surveyors of Bureau Veritas and various commissioning engineers of Kongsberg and Alewijnse, the capabilities of the vessel were tested thoroughly," the shipbuilder said.Royal Niestern Sander in April 2019 signed the contract to build the vessel with Geo Plus BV.After the start of construction in September 2019, the ship was transported early February from the construction hall to the quayside to

Picotech Launches USV and Integrated Multibeam Echosounder

with PicoPOD provides a turnkey multibeam package for autonomous multibeam surveys, with up to 13 hours endurance on one set of LiPos.The PicoMB130 is suitable for applications including marine engineering, site inspection, environmental monitoring, site clearance and underwater science as well as hydrographic surveying.Image: Picotec

A New Role for Service Providers Amidst Energy Upheaval

In today’s energy industry, things are moving fast. The upheaval brought about by COVID-19 and exacerbated by the Russia-Saudi Arabia oil price war has been so profound that the International Energy Agency (IEA) has described the situation as “a once in a century event for energy demand”. This is supported by current IEA predictions which suggest a 6% drop in global energy demand in 2020 – seven times worse than the plunge in demand that followed the 2008 recession.Amid what the IEA has dubbed a “dismal” year for fossil fuels, the one bright spot is the performance

Sonardyne Tests Autonomous Vehicles Navigation for UK MOD

is a 10,000 nautical mile-range vessel able to carry up to 2.5 metric tons of payload and deploy and recover autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) and remotely operated vehicles (ROV). This capability, and flexibility, means it is well suited to support naval missions including intelligence gathering, hydrographic survey and as a communications gateway.Ioseba Tena, Global Business Manager, s and Marine Robotics at Sonardyne, says, “Most USVs rely on uninterrupted GPS or GNSS signal updates to inform their situational awareness and plot a course safely. When there’s no signal, or what’s

Dean Joins Teledyne CARIS

Teledyne CARIS welcomes Geoff Dean to the group as USA Sales Manager. In this role Dean will concentrate on expanding the reach of Teledyne CARIS software products, while using his in-depth industry experience to provide seamless service and support for existing clients.Dean will spearhead the continued expansion of Teledyne CARIS software especially in the ports, waterways and hydrographic survey markets in the U.S.

Rovco Expands ROV Fleet with Saab Seaeye Leopard Unit

Rovco, a company providing ROV and hydrographic services has expanded its ROV fleet with a Saab Seaeye Leopard ROV.The company said that the high-performance electric “Fast ROV” work-class platform increases Rovco’s service offering to support wind farm installation and maintenance projects throughout the lifecycle of subsea related tasks. Rovco said it aimed to serve its clients in areas such as construction support, seabed, cable and pipeline investigations, and intervention, "and this vehicle backs up the firm’s capability to deliver on its £15m+ pipeline of

Vice Adm. Badhwar Receives Alexander Dalrymple Award

of his outstanding contribution to Indian hydrography and across the wider Indian Ocean region.The Alexander Dalrymple Award was first awarded by the UKHO in 2006 and is named after the first Hydrographer of the Admiralty. Recipients of the award are selected by the Executive Committee of the UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) for their efforts in raising the standards of hydrography, cartography and navigation around the world.Having joined the Indian Navy in 1982, Vice Admiral Badhwar has extensive hydrographic surveying experience. This includes work in the Gulfs of Kutch and Khambhat, and the Andaman

Hydrographic Survey Vessel to be Converted for Unmanned Operations

A hydrographic survey vessel will operate in multiple areas of the Wadden Sea, commanded from shore by personnel in an office in Amersterdam.U.S.-based Sea Machines Robotics, a developer of autonomous command and advanced perception systems, said Thursday that Dutch company Deep BV will equip one of its vessels with a Sea Machines SM300 autonomous control system to enable remote command of the vessel, including navigation and positioning, the control of on-board auxiliaries and sensors, and ship-to-shore data flow. Sea Machiens says its SM300 autonomy system shifts full-mission vessel control

Fugro Mapping Arctic Waters off Norway

The Norwegian Hydrographic Service has awarded Fugro another hydrographic survey contract as part of the MAREANO seabed mapping program, financed by Norway’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries, and the Ministry of Environment.Fugro said it has already completed 10 surveys for the program since 2006 and acquired over 140,000 km2 of data. This latest survey will collect high-resolution, high-density multibeam echosounder and sub-bottom data to produce seamless datasets for the Norwegian mapping program. The fieldwork will run from June to late October this year.The survey area covers

New Depth Data Management System for Danish Hydrographic Office

implement a new depth data management system, including the CARIS Bathy DataBASE, migration tools, system configuration and implementation. The project also delivered a range of training and consultancy.The depth data management system from Teledyne CARIS, a Teledyne Technologies, provides the Danish Hydrographic Office efficient storage and management of depth data while supporting the current and future requirements, both internally and externally."DGA is a dynamic, data-centered, industry-leading agency that provides high resolution, quality data products. Their focus on automation for data storage

Drill Rig Noise: Entering the Exclusion Zone, Quietly

over via Wi-fi within the exclusion zone and an ability to set waypoints for navigation outside the zone. It would have a 10-20% cost saving over a survey vessel.”There is an emerging use of unmanned vessels in the upstream industry. Last year, USV operator XOCEAN used its vehicles to perform hydrographic, pipeline inspection and data gathering services, while L3Harris has been trialling deploying a remotely operated vehicle from one of its USVs. But, despite the emerging use and apparent benefit of unmanned systems, it can still be an uphill struggle to get operators to adopt this technology.

BMT Unveils Hull-form for Autonomous Operations

fuel consumption and increase its adaptability across multiple applications.Offering a myriad of applications for defense and commercial innovators, Pentamaran vessels may be custom configured for military, patrol, intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and hydrographic survey work.The Pentamaran has been designed to reduce drag as much as possible, with very slender central hull and two smaller hulls or ‘sponsons’ on either side. The sponsons are set one behind the other, and when the vessel is operating on flat water, the forward sponsons are not

Fugro, Sea-Kit in Uncrewed Surface Vessel Team-Up

, supporting international ambitions for zero global emissions in the marine industry.The first USVs will be launched before the end of this year, and a larger USV model is being designed for delivery in 2021. These inspection-related USVs are being developed alongside Fugro’s range of USVs for hydrographic data acquisition.Mark Heine, Chief Executive Officer at Fugro, said: “We are excited to be partnering with SEA-KIT International to develop a range of USVs that will transform the marine industry. Together with other strategic alliances, this partnership represents a major acceleration to

Research Vessel Atair to be Commissioned this Spring

A new liquefied natural gas (LNG) powered survey, wreck-search and research vessel built by German Naval Yards Kiel is currently undergoing installation and finishing works at Fassmer in Berne, Germany prior to being commissioned this spring.Ordered by the German Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH), the new research vessel will be homeported in Hamburg, replacing the previous Atair, which entered operation in 1987.At 75 meters long and roughly 17 meters wide, the new Atair will be the largest research vessel in the BSH fleet. It will also be the most technologically advanced and environmental

iXblue, ThayerMahan in Unmanned Surface Vessel Pact

.In a statement on Monday, the companies said that ThayerMahan’s expertise in maritime domain awareness, and iXblue’s Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV), would help both companies address a wide range of maritime and survey applications including offshore renewables, Oil & Gas, hydrographic surveys, ISR, as well as monitoring and tracking operations.ThayerMahan’s CEO, Mike Connor, stated, “We are thrilled to be working with iXblue in a number of areas.  Their creativity and design discipline combined to produce a rugged, long-endurance, unmanned surface vessel that

SBG Systems' INS Chosen for Shom Fleet

Shom, the French national hydrographic and oceanographic office selected SBG Systems’ inertial navigation sytems to renew their whole fleet of INS. They chose Navsight Apogee INS for their speedboats and survey vessels for both shallow and deep-water real-time bathymetric surveys and Qinertia PPK software for post-processing tasks.Shom has 3 major objectives: national hydrography and cartography, defense support in hydro-oceanographic fields, and support in maritime geospatial products and services for public policies on the sea and the coast. The fleet used by Shom is based in Brest and is

Survey Vessel Launched for Geo Plus

Dutch shipbuilder Royal Niestern Sander said it has launched a new vessel currently under construction for hydrographic survey firm Geo Plus BV. The newbuild, to be named Geo Ranger, is due to be christened and delivered this summer.The contract for the construction of the hydrographic research vessel Geo Ranger was signed by the builder and Geo Plus in April 2019.After the start of construction in September 2019, the ship was transported in early February from the construction hall to the quay side to prepare for the launch, which took place on March 7.The ship (yard number 864) was designed together

Trimble Outfits New Teledyne Unmanned Survey Vessel

heading receiver and is compatible with Trimble Marine Construction (TMC) software, enabling marine construction/dredging projects to be monitored in real time anywhere in the world.THE TELEDYNE Z-BOATTM 1800-T, designed and manufactured by Teledyne Oceanscience, is a high-resolution shallow water hydrographic unmanned survey vehicle with the newly released Odom Hydrographic Echotrac E20 Singlebeam Echosounder and dual antenna Trimble BX992 GNSS heading receiver. “Trimble's experience in GNSS guidance systems, and Teledyne's leadership in shallow-water hydrographic surveying provides

Hybrid Hydrographic Boat Delivered in France

French builder Alumarine Shipyard has delivered a new hydrographic survey boat to the Port of La Rochelle.The eight-meter aluminum vessel, dubbed Cassiopée, is powered by a dual electric/diesel propulsion system. The newbuild is designed to transit at 20-25 knots under diesel power between the home port and the acquisition area, then shift to the electric outboards while performing scans of the seafloor.Electric propulsion and hybrid drives manufacturer Torqeedo said it worked closely with the naval architect and shipyard to specify, install and integrate the electric propulsion package consistin

Teledyne Extends Academic Product Grant Application

the widest breadth of technology in the industry, and is pleased to share a full suite of these technologies with the academic community to address an array of potential global research programs. This grant is open to all students from accredited universities or institutions pursuing oceanographic or hydrographic studies, and provides up to 6 months free product usage and technical consultations to help ensure their success. Products in this year’s grant include: ADCPs, Acoustic Releases, DVLs, Multibeam and Imaging Sonars, PDS software, and Hydrophones. Applicants can apply for one or more of these

Oi20: Set for London in March

and organisations from 70 countries. USV supplier OceanAlpha Group Ltd (stand G450) is just one example of companies well placed to take advantage of the ExCel’s proximity to the Royal Victoria Dock for the staging of on-water product demonstrations. OceanAlpha will be displaying its M40 and M80 hydrographic survey boats and ME40 bathymetric survey boat, having developed more than 25 USV models in the decade since the company’s launch in 2010.Photo: Oceanology InternationalIn comparison to the last Oi London event in 2018, twice as many companies will be using the waterside location in 2020

Kongsberg Sells HUGIN AUV System to NIOT

Ocean Technology (NIOT), located in Chennai, India.According to a statement from Kongsberg Maritime India, the HUGIN AUV System ordered by NIOT is rated to a depth of 6,000 metres and will be equipped with a Kongsberg HISAS 1032 synthetic aperture sonar and EM2040 multibeam echosounder, designed for hydrographic and seabed classification applications.It will also carry a high-resolution colour still image camera, plus a range of environmental sensors for oceanographic surveys, including a magnetometer. This equipment array will facilitate the extremely demanding deep-sea scientific research and mapping

New AI Tool for Sonar Noise Cleanup

. For additional security, no data remains stored on the cloud following the AI classification process.“By leveraging deep learning techniques, Teledyne CARIS is poised to bring fundamental change to how sonar data is processed. The use of AI opens exciting opportunities for the future of hydrographic survey, from automated processing pipelines for crowd sourced bathymetry, to feature detection for charting,” said Karen Cove, Senior Product Manager

ROVOP Launches In-house Inspection Service

Subsea robotics firm ROVOP announced the addition of full in-house inspection service, to complement its range of underwater robotics technologies.With a fleet of 51 remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROV) including work class, light work class and observation class, ROVOP now has the ability to provide its clients with a complete inspection service, covering the preparation of inspection procedures, project execution offshore, reporting and inspection and asset integrity data management, the company said.Working closely with its survey and non-destructive testing (NDT) partners, ROVOP’s

POJL Upgrades to SBG Marine Navsight Solution

;Swathe Services, who supplied and installed the original system, assisted with the upgrade and servicing by SBG Systems.The port purchased the Apogee-U high-performance Inertial Navigation System (INS) from Swathe in 2016 along with a high resolution R2SONIC Multi-Beam Echo-Sounder (MBES) to conduct Hydrographic surveys out of St Helier and for additional commercial survey operations.James Williams, Managing Director of Swathe Services, says: “The performance of the Apogee Navsight offers superior performance compared to competitive products and allows for easier installation and integration into

Creating Data Confidence

The in-house calibration facilities at Ocean Scientific International Ltd. (OSIL) provide support, calibrations, pre- and post-deployment verifications (CalChecks) and repairs for a wide range of hydrographic instruments from its well-equipped department, and supports a variety of different parameters (including the main requirements of conductivity, sound velocity, pressure and temperature) to the highest levels of accuracy.OSIL is placed to source high-precision calibration standards for conductivity and salinity as the IAPSO Standard Seawater Service is operated from within the same location

TerraSond Wins NOAA Contract

TerraSond reports it has been awarded its seveth consecutive NOAA contract.The five-year IDIQ contract was awarded by the Hydrographic Surveys Division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s National Ocean Service, Office of Coast Survey, to provide hydrographic surveying services in the USA.The contract was effective January 1, 2020, with a maximum value of $250 million over five years, subject to appropriation by Congress. Thomas Newman, President, TerraSond, said, “Through our NOAA contracts, we have been performing comprehensive site characterization for

Mitcham Appoints New Tech Positions

MIND) ("Mitcham") has made two key additions to its technology development team.  Andy Meecham has joined Mitcham in the newly-created position of Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. Additionally, Dr Peter Ramsay has joined the company as Director – Strategic Hydrographic Programs.Meecham will be responsible for directing all of Mitcham's research and development activities. This role includes identifying opportunities to expand product offerings from existing technologies as well as acquiring new technology through internal development, acquisition or partnering

UKHO Appoints Rear Admiral Sparkes

The UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) appointed Rear Admiral Peter Sparkes to the position of National Hydrographer and Deputy Chief Executive.As National Hydrographer, Sparkes is the UK government’s representative at the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), where he works with partners to set and maintain standards that protect the safety of mariners around the world. In addition to this, he oversees key international partnerships with foreign navies, hydrographic offices, governments and commercial organizations to support the sharing of global marine geospatial data. And on behalf of UK

NOAA Awards 5-yr Hydrographic Gig to Fugro

innovation and delivering on future NOAA task orders,” he added.Fugro will manage all work associated with the new IDIQ award from its Houston-based Hydrography Centre of Excellence in the Americas. Fugro established the center in 2017 to address the region’s growing need for hydrographic services.Since then, the center has successfully developed innovative data acquisition systems, which are complemented by remote processing and large data transfer capabilities. These technologies allow Fugro to deliver high quality hydrographic services with increased safety and efficiency, and a

Damen Inks Deal for Hydrographic R/V

(DTC) contract with Cotecmar during ExpoDefensa 2019 in Bogota. The contract will see DTC provide design, engineering and technical assistance for the construction of a Scientific Marine Research Vessel (Buque de Investigación Científico Marina (BICM)).Cotemcar  will build the hydrographic and oceanogrpahic research vessel for DIMAR (Direccion Maritima – Maritime Authority) at their Mamonal location. The vessel, which will be 83 meters in length with a beam of 16 meters, will be the largest and most complex vessel ever to be built in Colombia.DIMAR will operate the vessel

XOCEAN Acquires 4D Ocean

Ocean data company XOCEAN announced on Wednesday that it has completed the acquisition of autonomous hydrographic survey company 4D Ocean.The announcement follows the news of XOCEAN’s successful €7.9 million funding round earlier this month.XOCEAN, which uses marine robotics known as unmanned surface vessels (USVs) to collect ocean data, has recently delivered projects for clients including BP, Equinor, PX Group and the UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency. The services provided by XOCEAN include mapping the seabed, inspecting subsea structures and monitoring the environment.Currently

Peel Ports Group invests in Norbit Tech

based Survey Vessel ‘Royal Charter’ plus their upcoming delivery of an L3Harris ASV Ltd vehicle.The Norbit iWBMSh now commissioned on the Royal Charter has replaced the vessels previously installed multibeam system.With the vessel now delivering high quality bathymetric and backscatter hydrographic data, Peel Ports have additionally installed a Norbit iLiDAR laser scanner to provide further survey capability in its often interesting and challenging survey environments."Peel Ports are expert Hydrographic Surveyors, who have evaluated technology and identified ambitious operational challenges

New Tech Aids US Navy Mapping

of the primary yet challenging goals of SBIR programs is transferring the benefits of federally funded innovations to the private sector. Areté achieved this goal by partnering with Fugro to develop and commercialize RAMMS. As a result, PILLS itself was improved, making it possible to deliver hydrographic mapping of an accuracy and quality that can support numerous data applications, including updated nautical charts.“We are very pleased to be part of this full-circle technology transfer and successful collaboration between industry and government to the benefit of all parties,“ said

Fugro Enters the South Korean Offshore Wind

with UST21 will facilitate collaboration on marine projects in South Korean waters, whereby Fugro will expand UST21’s local hydrography capacity to provide site characterization services, including geotechnical, geophysical and offshore metocean solutions. In return, UST21’s local hydrographic expertise will provide logistical and operational support to Fugro’s offshore metocean projects. For example, in conjunction with UST21, Fugro will shortly deploy several Seawatch Wind LiDAR buoys offshore South Korea to perform vital wind resource assessments.“By combining Fugro&rsquo

Unique Group Buys Five USVs

Subsea and offshore solutions provider Unique Group has sad it has signed an agreement to acquire five unmanned surface vessels (USV) DriX units from French technology company iXblue.The autonomous offshore survey vehicles are designed for a range of tasks such as geophysical and hydrographic surveys, touchdown monitoring of pipelines, subsea positioning, and remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) and autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) tracking.DriX, with its long endurance, increased hydrodynamics and flexible sensor payload, can improve the efficiency of offshore operations and act as a true

WASSP Launches New Rapid Deployment Multibeam Sounder

by just two people from vessel to vessel, or even helicoptered in if necessary.“WASSP Multibeam was originally designed to help with the placement of Rock Lobster pots to optimize catch, and since then the technology has found many new markets and opportunities around the world such as hydrographic survey. With recent developments allowing a great mix of performance and portability we are very excited to bring our technology to this new market,” says WASSP Global Sales & Marketing Manager Rufus Whiteford.WASSP Multibeam has already been used effectively in disaster relief. After

Commercial Hydrographic Training with USV

Swathe Services, a Hydrographic survey support company in Hayle, Cornwall UK ran what it calls the world’s first Multi-Beam Echo-Sounder training course using a remotely operated Unmanned Surface Vessel. Hydrographic Surveying is usually done with a manned survey vessel and takes many hours to complete. People came from as far afield as Norway, France, Slovenia, UK and the USA to attend the intensive 5-day course.As part of the training, the delegates mapped Hayle Harbor in Cornwall using an Unmanned Surface Vessel fitted with Multi-beam Echo-Sounder technology. The USV was remotely operated