Methane: The Arctic's Buried Treasure

Trapped beneath permafrost and ocean sediments, the release of the world’s largest natural gas resource, methane, has become a hot topic for international research. As rising temperatures continue to warm the Arctic region, the vast frozen fields of gas, known as gas hydrates, grow unstable beneath the retreating ice. The Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment, and Climate (CAGE) strives to address…

Fugro Advances Bathymetric Lidar Mapping Capabilities

Fugro is introducing a new bathymetric lidar system that delivers industry-leading depth penetration and point densities for nearshore and coastal mapping. Known as RAMMS (Rapid Airborne Multibeam Mapping System), the field-proven technology promises to deliver an efficient and cost-effective solution, dramatically improving upon other bathymetric lidar mapping capabilities.“Traditional bathymetric lidar technology requires customers to compromise between price…

High-tech Sensors Advance Tsunami Monitoring

Accurate and long-term measurements of sea level, tidal harmonics and tsunami activity are a growing requirement to address global coastal developments and risk mitigation programs. Real-time tsunami monitoring and warning systems are being developed to save lives, model wave propagation and quantify coastal hazards.The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) has recently taken delivery of five…

Aker Solutions to Supply Umbilicals for Liuhua FPSO

Aker Solutions said it has been contracted to deliver power umbilical systems to China National Offshore Oil Corporation's (CNOOC) Liuhua oil fields in the South China Sea, off Hong Kong.The order, which is said to be worth more than NOK 350 million ($36.6 million), was booked in the third quarter of 2018. The work scope includes more than 35 kilometers of dynamic and static power umbilicals for the Liuhua 16-2…

Oceanic Imaging Introduces Stand-Alone Mosaicking Module

Oceanic Imaging Consultants, Inc. (OIC), of Honolulu, Hawaii, introduced the first Stand-Alone Mosaicking Module (SAMM) for forward-look sonar (FLS) at the MTS/IEEE Oceans 2013 trade show held last month in San Diego, California. SAMM is a plug-and-play add-on to forward look sonar systems that automatically creates mosaics in real time from FLS data. “SAMM works in real time reading live data from a socket. It can also be used for post-processing.

Cyclops: A Revolutionary Hull Design

OceanGate Inc. announced the completion of the initial carbon fiber hull design and feasibility study for its next generation manned submersible – Cyclops. Under a contract issued to Boeing Research & Technology (BR&T), OceanGate, the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington (APL-UW) and Boeing have validated the basic hull design for a submersible vehicle able to reach depths of 3,000m.

Polar Code Focus at Arctic Conference

The Polar Code has been under development at the IMO for a considerable length of time but will reach fruition during 2014 after which it will be offered to the various nations to ratify. The Code seeks to provide a common reference for those ship owners, designers and – more importantly, perhaps – the ship users who will be operating inside the Arctic or Antarctic regions. The South Polar Region is…

Wind-powered Oil Recovery Project Green-lighted

The DNV GL-led WIN WIN Joint Industry Project (JIP), which melds offshore wind with offshore oil and gas, shows that for suitable fields,finds that  wind-powered water injection is technically feasible, capable of meeting performance targets and offers a cost-competitive alternative to conventional water injection solutions. For the past year, participants from both the renewable and oil and gas industries…

CoPilot Retrofitted onto Falcon ROV

SeeByte, a creator of smart software for unmanned maritime systems, announced that Heriot-Watt University has integrated CoPilot with its Seaeye Falcon 1256, an observation-class ROV. With assistance from Heriot-Watt University’s Ocean Systems Laboratory personnel, the SeeByte team integrated and tuned the system to operate with a Teledyne RDI Workhorse Navigator 600 KHz DVL. The work was conducted over a two day period including testing in Heriot-Watt University’s wave tank.

Offshore Wind: Fugro Starts Site Survey in the Baltic

Fugro has commenced a marine site characterization program at Iberdrola’s Baltic Eagle Offshore Wind Farm, in German waters of the Baltic Sea.Under a contract worth over €10 million ($11 million), Fugro will undertake a UXO survey to clear the investigation sites, followed by a geotechnical seabed investigation and borehole drilling. The workscope also includes a program of standard and advanced laboratory…

Kongsberg to Equip New Heavy Lift Crane Vessel

Kongsberg Maritime has secured a contract worth approximately $13 million to equip a new heavy lift crane vessel for Offshore Heavy Transport (OHT) with an innovative technology suite. The vessel, a customized Ulstein Design & Solutions BV design, marks the entry of the Norway-based Offshore Heavy Transport (OHT) into the offshore renewables and installation market. Options exist for a further three vessels…

Teledyne CARIS Unveils Bathy DataBASE 5.2

Teledyne CARIS has released Bathy DataBASE 5.2, which introduces enhanced tools for validating and creating chart features from lidar surveys as well as new bathymetry compilation techniques.This latest version includes an updated workflow process found in BASE Editor designed for performing both quality control and feature set building from lidar data. Bring LAS/LAZ data into the BASE Editor environment to assess quality, adjust classification, and compare against other sources.

UUV Manipulators: Get a Grip

While much focus on resident subsea vehicles has been about the vehicles, there’s also been a lot of focus behind the scenes on creating electric tooling. The industry has relied on hydraulic tooling since tooling has been used, with the benefits and drawbacks that come with it. Leading the field has been Schilling Robotics, now a part of the TechnipFMC group. But, for electric vehicles to really make to most of being all-electric, they really need to be free of the burdens of hydraulic systems.

Bombora Making Progress with 'World’s Most Powerful' Wave Energy Converter

Bombora Wave Power said this week it was entering the final test and assembly phase of the 1.5MW Pembrokeshire Demonstration Project, as it prepares to validate what it says is the world’s most powerful Wave Energy Converter."Rigorous testing of the key sub-systems is currently underway as the ocean energy specialist prepares to deliver the £20million project, financially supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) via the Welsh Government…

Sonardyne Unveils New Products

Underwater technology provider Sonardyne International Ltd. has announced new additions to its 2020 product line-up.With a focus on compact yet capable unmanned and vessel instruments, Sonardyne has unveiled SPRINT-Nav Mini, a compact guidance and control solution in the market, as well as ADCP functionality for its Syrinx Doppler velocity log (DVL) and a smaller, lighter version of its popular Gyro USBL transceiver.SPRINT-Nav Mini provides guidance and control outputs – orientation…

CCG Adds OFSV to its Fleet

Seaspan Shipyards (Seaspan) has completed Delivery of Canadian Coast Guard Ship (CCGS) Capt. Jacques Cartier, the Canadian Coast Guard’s newest state-of-the-art Offshore Fisheries Science Vessel (OFSV), the second OFSV delivered by Seaspan."The milestone in the shipbuilding process took place exactly five months and two days after the delivery of her sister ship, the CCGS Sir John Franklin. These two ships are the first large vessels delivered under the National Shipbuilding Strategy…

Navy Establishing Unmanned Surface Vessel Fleet for Persistent ISR in Middle East

“We're not tinkering. We're building enhanced maritime domain awareness.”The U.S. Navy’s Task Force 59, based in Bahrain as part of the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) and U.S. Fifth Fleet, is advancing the operational employment and integration of unmanned systems and artificial intelligence in fleet operations.According to Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, the fleet commander, unmanned systems and artificial intelligence are helping to accelerate innovation…

Transas will equip 2 tankers for Palmali Shipping

Transas Group and Armada Shipyard (Turkey) have signed a contract for installation of navigation and communication equipment on the two tankers built for the Palmali Shipping, a major oil cargo carrier. The tankers are built in accordance with new series of Armada project RST22M, DWT 7150. Within the contract Armada Shipyard will install a set of radio and navigation equipment including Integrated Bridge System…

STR Adds Two Sonardyne DVLs to Rental Pool

Subsea Technology and Rentals (STR), a provider of technology and services to the offshore marine sectors, has added two Sonardyne Syrinx Doppler Velocity Logs (DVLs) to its expanding rental inventory. The order for two 4000-meter depth rated units was placed with Sonardyne International Ltd following demand from STR’s customers. The Sonardyne Syrinx differs from other DVLs through its use of fully linear signal processing, low noise electronics and adaptive bottom lock.

C-Innovation Chooses Kongsberg AUV Systems

C-Innovation (C-I), an integrated marine services company specializing in advanced subsea solutions, and a member of the Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO) family of companies, has ordered four AUVs from Kongsberg Maritime. The order adds AUV capabilities to C-I’s ROV fleet, integrated with ECO’s worldwide vessel fleet for a full-spectrum IMR solution for clients. Headquartered in Mandeville, La., with an additional office in Houston…