The Island of Gold, the Leopard and the Falcon

Marco Polo described Japan as the Island of Gold for its vast natural gold deposits, long since mined out. But in the oceans offshore the seabed still holds a wealth of gold and other valuable mineral reserves created by hydrothermal activity from hot water venting at 300°C which contains dissolved metals that form ore deposits when cooled. Seeing the potential for extracting these minerals, Tokyo University has engaged Kaiyo Engineering…

STR Expands Dredging Equipment Offering

Global specialists in the design, manufacture and rental of advanced subsea technology for the offshore energy industry Subsea Technology & Rentals Ltd (STR) has expanded its offering of dredging equipment following a partnership agreement with Aberdeen based Subsea Tooling Services (STS) to hire, service and support its range of subsea dredging systems held mobilization ready at STR offices. The Predator and Gremlin range of dredgers will become the latest offering from STR.

CMS-Geotech Launches Vibrocore Monitoring Acquisition System

Vibrocoring is an established fundamental phase of marine seabed investigations, but its importance is often underestimated and much vibrocoring is carried out somewhat blindly, ie lowering the unit to the seabed, vibrating for a set time and recovering to the surface in the hope that an adequate sample has been obtained. CMS-Geotech is a U.K. specialist in vibrocoring and CPT site investigation and over the last 12 months has developed a new monitoring system…

UTEC Comes up Big Offshore

Offshore and onshore survey provider UTEC Survey says it has completed a significant ROV navigation and seismic node positioning project in deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The project, carried out for seismic nodal technology company FairfieldNodal and undertaken in 2,425 meters of water, involved use of the latest software and navigation technologies available to simplify operations, increase cost savings on an original scope of work…

No Red Tide Expected on Florida’s West Coast

Research conducted by a team from the University of South Florida College of Marine Science and the Florida Fist and Wildlife Conversation Commission suggests conditions are such that no major red tide outbreaks should be expected along Florida’s west coast this year. Their conclusions are based on elevated nutrient levels in the Gulf of Mexico that favor the emergence of organisms other than those related to red tide.

Nexans’ New Cable-Layer under Construction

Nexans said construction has started on its new cable-laying vessel for submarine HV cable systems installation. The vessel is being built by Croatia-based shipyard ULJANIK Group and is expected to be delivered and start operations by Q3 2020. The high capacity vessel is designed for worldwide installation of large volumes of HVDC and HVAC cable systems, covering the complete Nexans submarine product range, and has a 10 000-ton capacity turntable.

Smarter Ocean Robotics

It is evident by now that we are in a robotics revolution. In almost every industry, from healthcare to hospitality, robots are emerging that can successfully complete a task without the human element. Artificial intelligence (AI) is also advancing at phenomenal rates beyond what some imagined possible this decade. The marine sectors have embraced robotics in data collection and exploration, but the…

General Dynamics Delivers Submarine Colorado

General Dynamics Electric Boat delivered the nuclear-powered attack submarine Colorado (SSN 788) to the U.S. Navy. The 15th ship of the Virginia Class, Colorado is the fifth of the eight-ship group known as Block III. According to the builder, these ships embody a Navy and industry commitment to reduce costs while increasing capabilities through an initiative comprising a multi-year procurement strategy, improvements in construction practices and the Design For Affordability (DFA) program.

Meridian Gyros Achieves China Type Approval

The Meridian Standard and Meridian Surveyor gyro compasses manufactured by Teledyne TSS have been given type approval by the China Classification Society. The approval was granted after the Society inspectors completed a detailed study of the gyros, their performance and reliability and the manufacturing processes and quality control methods employed at the Teledyne TSS factory in Watford, U.K. The…

Seadrill Names Dibowitz CEO

Oslo-listed rig firm Seadrill named a new chief executive from within its own ranks on Wednesday and said its talks to restructure $14 billion of debt and liabilities had reached an advanced stage. Once the world's most valuable rig firm, Seadrill's business was hard hit when oil companies sharply cut investments and exploration in the wake of a 2014 crash in oil prices. Anton Dibowitz, current chief commercial officer…

Statewide Underwater Bridge Inspections by Fenstermaker

Fenstermaker's Underwater Acoustic specialists collaborate with the Louisiana Department of Transportation & Development to use advanced technologies and progressive methods in addressing America's failing infrastructure with a pioneer statewide underwater bridge inspection project. Summer is in full swing, but the grades posted in the 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) are downright chilling.

NDT Expert Joins Ashtead Technology

Ashtead Technology appointment Neil Harrap as Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) Market Manager. Neil is an experienced NDT specialist having spent 31 years in aerospace engineering with the Ministry of Defense, much of which was spent with the RAF. During this time, Neil’s roles included NDT Equipment Subject Matter Specialist, NDT Field Team Manager, Military Tri-Service NDT School Instructor and Aerospace Engineering Technician.

U.S. Navy Purchases Six New Iver AUVs

OceanServer Technology announced it received purchase orders for six new Iver AUVs across three different contracts.The vehicles will be utilized by four different Navy directorates for a variety of defense related applications. All six systems have or will be delivered within the next few months. The Iver platform has gained strong acceptance from Navy customers around the globe for high resolution imaging in littoral waters.

NOAA Honors Fugro

Fugro’s global ocean mapping efforts have earned the company a formal commendation from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The recognition came during a recent industry briefing with Fugro and NOAA about The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project, a global initiative to map the world’s oceans by the year 2030.Given that more than 80 percent of the world’s oceans remains unexplored and unmapped…

Offshore: Nippon Foundation, Deepstar Sign MOU

Japan's Nippon Foundation and Deepstar signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) recently which essentially will allow Japan to tap the expertise and resources of DeepStar to help Japan discover and recover new-found subsea resources, as well as educate future generations of Japanese. The MOU was signed on May 1, 2018 at the Hotel ZaZa in Houston, and speaking at the event Nippon Foundation Chairman…

Odfjell Drilling buys “Deepsea Nordkapp”

Odfjell Drilling announced that Aker BP has today awarded Odfjell Drilling a 2 year firm drilling contract with 1+1 year optional periods. The day rates for the drilling contract will be based on market terms to be determined prior to commencement of drilling operations. In addition to the market linked day rate, a performance bonus as agreed in the alliance agreement with Aker BP, as announced on 21 November 2017, will apply.

Riding the Waves and Tides to a Cleaner Energy Future

When one thinks of offshore renewable energy, one usually thinks of offshore wind. For the first time progress is being made in the U.S. to develop offshore wind resources. The first steel foundation jacket has been placed in the ocean floor to support the Deepwater Wind project off the coast of Block Island, Rhode Island. (See www.dwwind.com/press/#/1). But recently, progress is also being made in the development of tidal and wave energy resources closer to shore…

Technip, 3D at Depth to Promote LiDAR Technology

3D at Depth, a global technology provider of advanced subsea LiDAR systems and solutions, and Technip USA, Inc., an affiliate of Technip SA of France, announced today that they have signed a joint development agreement (JDA) to expand and commercialize the LiDAR technology for subsea metrology, field survey and IRM applications. Commonly referred to as laser scanning, LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is a technology for collecting precise 3D models of subsea structures and seabed topography.

QINSy

Software design company Quality Positioning Services BV (QPS) has upgraded its hydrographic data acquisition, navigation and processing software package QINSy (Quality Integrated Navigation System). The latest version, 8.10.2015.06.29.1, includes a new feature called Hook-Up Operations for Anchor Handling, for pre-laid anchors powered by Orcaflex of Orcina.Traditional anchor handling, including showing the catenary, was already possible with QINSy.

Total Awards iSURVEY Positioning Contract

iSURVEY, a provider of survey and positioning services to the global oil and gas, offshore renewables and telecommunications markets, said it has secured a framework contract with Total E&P UK Limited for the provision of rig move navigation and positioning services. Effective October 12, 2015, the three-year framework contract will give the iSURVEY team the opportunity to provide platform, rig and vessel-based positioning services to Total’s offshore operations in the UKCS.