First Keillor Fellow in Place: Adam Bechle

For nearly 30 years, Phil Keillor worked as a coastal engineer for Wisconsin Sea Grant, retiring in 2003. During his career, Keillor earned a national reputation his for technical assistance, guidance, and educational services to coastal communities along Wisconsin’s shores, throughout the Great Lakes, and beyond. Along the way, he impressed colleagues and co-workers with his competence, integrity and respect for everyone he encountered, on the job and off. Keillor died rather suddenly in 2009.

New Virus Found in the Ocean

Researchers from MIT and Albert Einstein College of Medicine have discovered a new type of virus that dominates water samples taken from the ocean but has long escaped analysis because its characteristics are not detected by standard tests. The newly identified viruses have long been missed by previous studies due several unusual properties including a lack of “tail” found on most catalogued and sequenced bacterial viruses.

Unique Group, Kongsberg Maritime Restore Partnership

Integrated subsea and offshore solution provider Unique Group said it has reestablished a dealer agreement with Kongsberg Maritime AS for the Middle East region. Under the business cooperation agreement, Unique Group’s offices in the region will offer sale and service of KM’s wide range of underwater mapping, navigation, acoustics and camera solutions to customers in the territories of Bahrain, KSA, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE.

SBG Systems Launches Navsight Marine Solution at OI2018

SBG Systems releases at the Oceanology International trade show in London (UK), the Navsight Marine Solution, a full high performance inertial navigation solution designed to made surveyors’ tasks easier on both shallow and deep water. Built on a proven technology, Navsight strengthens SBG Systems position as leading innovator in the marine technology market. Navsight Marine Solution consists in an…

Kongsberg to Equip Three Polish Navy Warships with Hugin AUVs

Norway's Kongsberg Maritime has secured a contract award with Polish shipbuilder Remontowa Shipbuilding SA (RSB) to supply three shipsets of Kongsberg Hugin Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) systems and related HiPAP positioning and communication systems for three newbuild warships for the Polish Navy.The total contract value exceeds €10 million, with the Kongsberg equipment planned for the next three ships in the Kormoran II Mine-Countermeasures (MCM) vessel program (#4…

Teledyne TSS Launches AHRS, INS Systems

Following a two-year development program, Teledyne TSS is previewing a complete new family of advanced AHRS and INS (Inertial Navigation and Attitude and Heading Reference Systems) named Saturn at the Oceanology exhibition in London starting March 11. The Saturn family is based upon fiber-optic technology developed and manufactured by Teledyne TSS. The family also incorporates advanced digital signal…

Seatronics Orders New Saturn System from Teledyne TSS

Aberdeen-based global rental and marine technology supply company, Seatronics Ltd. placed an order with Teledyne TSS for 12 of the new Saturn 30 Subsea Attitude and Heading Reference Systems (AHRS) that were launched at Oceanology International in London. Seatronics has also taken options on a further 38-units, which takes the total projected purchase to 50 systems. Commenting on his company’s choice of the Saturn system…

Subsea Training Center Revamps ROV, Bell Courses

New modules added with support from industry. Students undertaking ROV Pilot Technician and Closed Bell training at the Fort William-based subsea facility, The Underwater Center, are to benefit from newly revamped courses providing even more contextual modules. The Center has been working with industry to identify areas of its ROV and Closed Bell training suites which can be enhanced and courses for the remainder of 2015 will reflect this with major developments across the board.

MTR 100: RECAB

“RECAB is a provider of rugged computers; we are a hardware company,” said Bjørn Espen Aase, Managing Director, RECAB Norway. We met with RECAB at the recent Norshipping in Oslo to catch up with this fast-growing computer integrator, a company which sees its business spread across many industries that demand high-performance rugged computing. “We are a typical subcontractor for the big players like Kongsberg and Rolls-Royce, for example.

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.

Kraken Finalizes OceanVision Contract

Kraken Robotics Inc. announced its wholly owned subsidiary, Kraken Robotic Systems Inc., has finalized the contract for the OceanVision project with the Ocean Supercluster and industry partners (Petroleum Research Newfoundland and Labrador, Ocean Choice International and Nunavut Fisheries Association).OceanVision is a three-year, $18.8 million project focused on the development of new marine technologies…

HAL Buys Offshore Installation Equipment Firm IQIP from Royal IHC

HAL, the Dutch investment subsidiary of HAL Holding, has acquired IQIP, a supplier of foundation and installation equipment to the offshore wind, coastal & civil, and oil & gas markets from Royal IHC for an undisclosed fee.IQIP is active worldwide and both sells and rents out equipment. According to HAL, IQIP's revenue over the financial year ending December 31, 2022, amounted to € 102 million. IQIP…

HAV Group Set to Acquire Undheim Systems, Adding DP Capabilities

Norway's HAV Group ASA has agreed to acquire Undheim Systems AS, a provider of dynamic positioning (DP) systems for vessels."The planned technology acquisition is a strategic move that accelerates HAV Group's plans to offer digital functionality that meets the global maritime market's needs for decision support tools and autonomous ship operations," HAV Group said.“HAV Group already provides digital decision support systems to vessels in order to cut operating expenditure and emissions to air.

Australia Speeds Up Purchase of Sea Mines to Shore Up Maritime Defense

Australia said on Monday it would accelerate plans to buy advanced sea mines to protect its maritime routes and ports from "potential aggressors" amid China's plans to increase its influence in the Pacific region.The so-called smart sea mines are designed to differentiate between military targets and other types of ships, a defence department spokesperson said in a statement."(Australia) is accelerating the acquisition of smart sea mines…

UNOLS Seeks Input on the Regional Class Research Vessel

Over the past few months, the UNOLS Council and Fleet Improvement Committees have been working on a response for the NSF to evaluate the need on the number of regional class research vessels to be built as part of the UNOLS fleet replacement efforts. The UNOLS Council said it continues to discuss and research this issue and seeking community views and input. The UNOLS office will collect the feedback in advance of our Council meeting discussion in October 2014.

DOF Subsea Selects Sonardyne Navigation Tech

International subsea services provider DOF Subsea has chosen acoustic and inertial navigation technology from Sonardyne Brasil Ltda. to support its deepwater operations from three vessels offshore Brazil.The three vessels will be equipped with Sonardyne’s SPRINT-Nav all-in-one subsea navigation instrument for underwater vehicles. A remote operated vehicle (ROV) on one of the vessels will also be fitted with a Sonardyne Syrinx Doppler Velocity Log (DVL), in place of its existing system.

JFC Acquires Ortega Submersibles

JFD, a part of James Fisher and Sons plc, acquired all the assets, IP and designs rights of Ortega Submersibles BV, a Netherlands-based submersible boat designer and manufacturer. The acquisition will enable JFD to expand further its offering of advanced Swimmer Delivery Vehicles (SDVs) and to develop new vehicles and capabilities in order to meet increased market demand for specialized small and medium-sized craft.JFD…

Lifeboat Converted Into Unsinkable Solar-Powered Arctic Excursion Boat

A new solar vessel that can theoretically be submerged and remain unharmed has been produced by repurposing a lifeboat that could originally accommodate 100 people.Two British architects, Guylee Simmonds and David Schnabel, recognized that the craft could be converted into an adventure vessel that could explore the Norwegian Artic while offering its occupants all the comforts of home.“We wanted to experience a range of different cultures…

Higher Learning & SINTEF’s Existential Rise

Sure, basic (open-ended) research gave us penicillin — but thousands of applied (commercial, finite) research projects carried out for governments and industry yield facts and non-stop innovation. At SINTEF, Norway’s premier research body, the breadth and number of research undertakings are mostly targeted for industrial and national clients, but the results speak of wide-ranging societal impact.Over our decades of SINTEF coverage…

Indonesian Government Buys UK-Built Submarine Rescue System

UK-based Submarine Manufacturing and Products (SMP) will provide its new submarine rescue system (SRS) to the Indonesian Navy.The SRS will be hosted on a mothership designed by independent design and engineering consultancy Houlder and delivered by its Indonesian strategic partner, BTI Defence.The three-year build contract will include the UK design and manufacture of the SRS, centered around SMP's new SRV-F Mk3 rescue submersible.