Subsea Robots in the Splash Zone
From their base deep within a former World War II U-boat pen, Norwegian outfit, OceanTech, is developing a set of robot tools that cling to offshore structures in order to effect inspection, maintenance and repair, or IMR. Old submarine anchorages are now subsea testing and training sites, but the North Sea is still the target. Hundreds of aging platforms and subsea structures require IMR that’s too costly, complex or hazardous for divers or remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs.As he walks us through Dora II, the original name of the U-boat pen, OceanTech CEO, Berndt Schjetne, points to
PSW Takes Over EMAS Spoolbase In Norway
, Western Norway. In a statement on Wednesday, PSW Group said the agreement to take over the spoolbase covered all activities related to the production and spooling of pipelines for offshore use. The spoolbase will be named "PSW Spoolbase".The spoolbase capable of handling a wide range of subsea and offshore piping projects in Northern Europe has a 3700m2 fabrication facility including an integrated indoor tie-in area. It was constructed in 2014 to optimize logistics and pipe handling.Oddbjørn Haukøy CEO of PSW Group believes the operating agreement will place the company on
James Fisher Sister Companies Merge
Offshore services firm James Fisher Offshore (JFO) said it is consolidating its services with those of its sister company James Fisher Subsea Excavation (JFSE). The merger brings subsea excavation services company JFSE under the JFO banner.Jack Davidson, MD of JFO, said, “The merger with JFSE is a really exciting development for JFO, better placing us to deliver the innovative and integrated solutions our customers need and expect across a wider geographic and sector range - delivering significant time and cost savings.“The key management team remains in place and integration is well
Rovco Nets $6.5 Mln Investment
Subsea technology firm Rovco announced it has secured £5 million ($6.5 million) in new funding to support international expansion and continued development of 3D computer vision and artificial intelligence (AI) subsea technology.The funding includes a £3.9 million ($5.1 million) Series A investment from Foresight group via the Foresight Williams Technology EIS Fund and Foresight VCTs as part of a larger round including funds from existing shareholders.Formed in 2015, Rovco has invested heavily in the development of an AI driven data platform and live 3D vision systems for subsea
NOAA, Ocean Infinity Form Research Partnership
US-based subsea technology and data company Ocean Infinity said it will partner with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office to develop new tools for ultra-high-resolution ocean exploration and mapping.The four-year Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) between Ocean Infinity and NOAA's Ocean Exploration and Research (OER) will aim to expand deepwater autonomous technologies that will help advance the transmission of ocean information and develop new data-collection and processing methods to increase the value and relevance of deep-ocean data. A key focus
Subsea 7 Wins 'Very Large' Sangomar Contract
Offshore installation and construction specialist Subsea 7 has said it has won a 'very large' subsea equipment contract from Woodside for the Sangomar project offshore Senegal.Subsea 7 has won a contract in cooperation with Schlumberger's One Subsea through their Subsea Integration alliance following Woodside's announcement on Friday that its field development plan for the Sangomar field has been approved.The Sangomar field (formerly the SNE field), containing both oil and gas, will be Senegal’s first offshore oil development. It is a deep-water oil field discovery located
RCCL Taps SGS for Maintenance and Repair
Subsea Global Solutions (SGS) has entered into an agreement with Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCCL). Under the agreement SGS will provide underwater hull maintenance and repair services for their fleet of 58 ships trading under six different brands (Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity, Azamara, TUI, Silversea, and Pullmantur). The new agreement is a continuation of the long term relationship between the two companies.
Ocean Installer Appoints New CEO
Ocean Installer has announced the appointment of Odd Strømsnes as the company’s new CEO as company enters new growth phase and addresses offshore wind market.The Norwegian subsea contractor said in a press note that the interim CEO Kevin Murphy will continue as Deputy CEO.Strømsnes was most recently managing director at TIOS, a TechnipFMC and Island Offshore joint venture, and has more than 25 years of experience from the global subsea industry holding various senior executive and board roles. He was managing director for Technip Norge from 2010 to 2016."Odd will also be
Greensea Opens Second Location
Greensea announced the opening of a second office in Plymouth, MA, an expansion fueled by autonomy and subsea navigation tech advances using its OPENSEA platform.Greensea Systems (Richmond, VT) new location, at 10 Cordage Park Circle, Suite 222, in the historic Cordage Commerce Center, once home to the Plymouth Cordage Company, will be the company's first office outside of Vermont and will become home to a growing team of software developers and robotics engineers."We are known for our open-architecture platform, OPENSEA, that is currently in use in more than 900 marine systems," said
Kraken Wins Canadian Government Contract
sites including the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror at the National Historic Site of Canada, Nunavut.Kraken was previously involved in Parks Canada’s discovery of the HMS Erebus during the Franklin Expedition in Summer 2014.The SeaVision system delivers real-time, full color 3D point cloud images of subsea infrastructure with millimeter accuracy. These datasets create highly detailed models for 3D visualization to support complex machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms used for analytics. SeaVision simplifies creating dynamic digital models of subsea physical assets and systems. This
