BP Doubles Down on Deepwater

About 300 BP workers commute 150 miles here by helicopter, from the Louisiana coast to a deep-sea drilling platform that can produce more oil in a day than a West Texas rig can pump in a year. On the deck of Thunder Horse, they work two-week shifts, drink seawater from a desalination plant, and eat ribs and chicken ferried in by boat. On the ocean floor, robots provide remote eyes and arms as drills extract up to 265,000 barrels per day.

Greensea Hires Abbott as Robotics Engineer

Greensea, creator of the universal marine industry operating platform OPENSEA, has hired Geoffrey Abbott as its new robotics engineer, responsible for advancing Greensea’s user interface and vehicle control systems for original equipment manufacturer products. As a robotics engineer at Greensea, Abbott will help further the company’s ability to easily integrate, configure and deploy its technology across vehicles and sensors in the marine industry.

NASA, Norway to Develop Arctic Laser-Ranging Station

NASA and the Norwegian Mapping Authority are partnering to develop a state-of-the-art satellite laser ranging station 650 miles from the North Pole that will produce high-precision locations of orbiting satellites, help track changes in the ice sheets and improve the efficiency of marine transportation and agriculture. The Arctic station will be the latest addition to a global network of space geodetic stations…

UKHO Supports HMS Queen Elizabeth in Portsmouth

The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) has supported the safe arrival of HMS Queen Elizabeth into Portsmouth by providing specialist marine geospatial and hydrographic expertise and data capabilities. Following initial dredging operations to make Portsmouth’s navigation channel and entrance deeper, hydrographic data was collected by the survey launch HMS Gleaner using modern multibeam echosounder technology to confirm the available water depth.

World's First Low Velocity Tidal Energy Project

Xodus Group has delivered the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and licence application for Minesto’s Holyhead Deep project west of Anglesey for which consent has been confirmed by Natural Resources Wales. The consent is for a 0.5 MW Deep Green device which will demonstrate and prove the technology ahead of plans for installing a 10 MW array at the site. The installation site is located in the southern corner of Holyhead Deep…

Hull Cleaning Robot Deployed in Rotterdam

Recently the hull of the vessel Vlieborg from Wagenborg has been cleaned in the Port of Rotterdam by Fleet Cleaner and OH Ship Cleaning. The vessel was heavily fouled with slime and algae, which were all removed from the hull and captured by the installation. The collected wastewater was carefully filtered in order to comply with environmental regulations. Since the Vlieborg was not loaded during the cleaning, a large portion of the fouled hull had to be cleaned above water.

Philippines Completes Scientific Survey in Disputed Sea

The Philippines has completed an 18-day scientific survey in the South China Sea to assess the condition of coral reefs and draw a nautical map of disputed area, a top security official said on Thursday. Two survey ships, including an advanced research vessel acquired from the United States, conducted surveys around Scarborough Shoal and on three islands, including Thitu, in the Spratly group, National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon said.

Charting the Shift of Oceanic Boundary Currents

Global warming results in fundamental changes to important ocean currents. As scientists from the Alfred-Wegener-Institute show in a new study, wind-driven subtropical boundary currents in the northern and southern hemisphere are not only going to increase in strength by the end of this century. The Kuroshio Current, the Agulhas Current and other oceanic currents are shifting their paths towards the pole and thus carry higher temperatures and thus the risk of storms to temperate latitudes.

Security Check List for Internet Access at Sea

An increase in internet access at sea will lead to an increased risk of suffering a cyber-attack, says a research report by Protection Vessels International. However, if addressed correctly, this risk can be lowered to sit comfortably within the acceptable risk tolerance levels of an organisation. Britain is a maritime nation. We depend on the sea to trade with others. Over 90% of the world’s trade goes by sea – this figure is 95% for the United Kingdom.

NOAA Releases 2018 Hydrographic Survey Plans

Beginning in April, NOAA’s four hydrographic survey ships – Thomas Jefferson, Ferdinand Hassler, Rainier and Fairweather – will set out along with private contractors to tackle their assigned survey projects over the course of the 2018 field season. North Coast of Kodiak Island – Last surveyed in 1932, this survey project focuses on areas inadequate for safe navigation, particularly along the corridor of vessel traffic transiting from Kodiak.

Maersk, McDermott Complete Contract off India

Maersk Supply Services said it has completed the first contract for one of its Stingray-Class newbuild subsea support vessel, Maersk Installer, with McDermott. Maersk Installer joined the project in January 2018, supporting the Vashishta development off the East Coast of India.This part of an ongoing development project by India's largest oil and gas exploration company, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation.

CCG’s Science Vessel CCGS Naalak Nappaaluk Launched

Seaspan Shipyards (Seaspan) launched the Canadian Coast Guard’s flagship science vessel, CCGS Naalak Nappaaluk.The fourth ship designed, built and launched by Seaspan under the National Shipbuilding Strategy, the Offshore Oceanographic Science Vessel (OOSV) is a floating laboratory that will serve as the primary oceanographic science platform for Fisheries and Oceans Canada. As a Polar Class 6 vessel…

Unique Group Scores Multi-Million-Dollar LARS Supply Deal

Unique Group, a subsea technology and engineering services firm, has been awarded a multi-million-dollar contract by CCC Underwater Engineering to deliver its Launch and Recovery Systems (LARS).As part of the agreement, Unique Group will deliver two LARS for two work class ROV’s to be deployed on CCCUWE’s new flagship DPIII DSCV Wadad Aletheia, currently operating in the Arabian Gulf region.The systems will be engineered and designed by Unique Group’s Subsea Innovation division in the U.K.

Ocean Geophysics Teams Up for EdgeTech on Seabed Data Processing

Offshore energy industry suppliers Ocean Geophysics has partnered with EdgeTech, a specialist in underwater technology solutions, to deliver advanced data processing software for EdgeTech’s newly launched eBOSS (Enhanced Buried Object Scanning System).The collaboration, established as a non-exclusive partnership, combines EdgeTech’s decades of hardware innovation with Ocean Geophysics’ expertise in…

Saab Seaeye Falcon Tapped for Swedish Survey

Peab Marin chose a Saab Seaeye Falcon as a multi-functional resource in support of the company’s marine survey, salvage and civil construction operations.The Swedish marine services company says the Falcon will secure a safer working environment for its divers and will be an “excellent tool” for surveying.Robert Hedin at Peab describes the important role the Falcon will play in diver safety. “Some work can offer serious risk for a commercial diver…

Acteon Finds Delivery Partner for Asia-Pacific Offshore Renewables Projects

Offshore engineering and subsea services firm Acteon and Wynnergy Marine, a Taiwan-based marine solutions provider, have signed a strategic memorandum of understanding (MoU) to jointly deliver renewable energy projects across the region.The partnership supports offshore wind growth in Taiwan by providing integrated solutions that combine subsea services and local marine vessels, enabling stronger local–global collaboration.Together…

Fincantieri, Defcomm to Jointly Advance Naval Units and Surface Drones

Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri has signed a strategic agreement to accelerate the development of autonomous surface units developed by Italian start-up Defcomm, which specializes in unmanned solutions for the maritime sector.The agreement focuses on a co-investment partnership to accelerate the development and industrialization of surface drones designed by Defcomm, which have already passed long run and endurance tests.These drones are designed for surveillance…

Aker Solutions, Kongsberg Discovery Partner on Offshore Drone Detection

Aker Solutions and Kongsberg Discovery have teamed up to deploy a drone detection system aimed at protecting offshore infrastructure, beginning with a demonstrator at Aker Solutions’ site in Stavanger.The system uses Kongsberg’s Drone Detection Radar and is part of a broader plan to roll out surveillance technologies across the North Sea to bolster situational awareness around energy assets and transit lanes.Kongsberg Discovery develops navigation…

US Accounts for $7 Bln in Ocean Data Activity Annually

New U.S. IOOS Ocean Enterprise Industry Study: Report details $7 billion in U.S. economic activities related to collection, use of ocean data. The NOAA-led U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS), in partnership with The Maritime Alliance and ERISS Corporation, issued the first national-level assessment of the scale and scope of the "ocean enterprise." The study shows that the ocean enterprise…

AXYS Leads the Way for Floating LiDAR

AXYS Technologies Inc. announced it has completed another two validation campaigns for its FLiDAR 6M wind assessment platform, marking the ninth and 10th independently reviewed offshore validations undertaken by AXYS to advance the commercial acceptance of its FLiDAR technology for offshore wind resource assessment in support of project financing. The latest validation campaigns took place at FINO 1 in the North Sea and at West of Duddon Sands in the Irish Sea…