U.S. Navy: Unmanned Maritime Systems Development Accelerates

There is little question that world militaries see the value of unmanned systems to complement their manned counterparts. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan accelerated the development of unmanned aerial systems and unmanned ground systems to meet urgent operational needs. Now, there is increasing interest in unmanned surface systems, resulting in their placement on an accelerated development path.Like their air and ground counterparts…

NPS Research on Coast Guard Icebreaker to Enhance Arctic Readiness

During a seven-week Arctic transit aboard the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker USCGC Healy (WAGB 20), researchers from the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) will study the impact of the extreme environment on crew performance and potential mitigations, as well as advanced Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies in adverse sea conditions.The studies, which commenced with Healy’s departure from Kodiak, Alaska on Aug. 26, will be led by principal investigator Dr.

Fugro Wins Metocean Survey Deal at 100MW Floating Wind Farm Site in Scotland

Salamander, a joint venture between Ørsted, Simply Blue Group, and Subsea 7, developing the Salamander floating wind farm in Scotland, has appointed Fugro to conduct a metocean survey for the proposed 100 MW project, located 35 km off the coast of Peterhead, Scotland.Scheduled to begin in September, the survey will run for approximately twelve months and gather essential meteorological, oceanographic, and environmental data.

SevenCs Launches S-100 Data Management System

At the third IHO Assembly, SevenCs presented its new development, the S-100 Data Management System (SDMS), designed to help organizations better manage their S-57/ S-100 datasets and comply with the dependencies set out in the standards.Manufacturers of electronic navigation charts can apply predefined workflows to ensure that the ENC quality assurance process is as compliant as possible with standards.The system consists of a core module that controls individual processes…

MTR100 '13 McLane Research Laboratories, Inc.

121 Bernard St. East Falmouth, Mass. CEO/President: Dr. McLane Research Laboratories was founded in 1983 and manufactures advanced time-series oceanographic profilers, samplers and flotation to the oceanographic community. The objective at McLane is to enable worldwide investigators to achieve their research and scientific goals by providing advanced, cost-effective instrumentation. McLane manufactures a number of profilers…

Petrobras and Shearwater Join Forces for Seismic Tech R&D

Brazilian state-owned energy company Petrobras and seismic acquisition company Shearwater Geoservices have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for joint development and execution of scientific research and technology innovation within seismic processing and acquisition focused on data quality, value and efficiency.The five-year agreement comes in addition to previously announced cooperations…

ABS and the US Coast Guard R&D Center Team Up for Maritime Tech Development

American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) and the United States Coast Guard Research and Development Center (USCG-RDC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) as a stepping stone towards collaborative research and development on top-of-mind technologies impacting the maritime industry.Activity under the MoU can include developing joint research publications, new technology qualifications and information…

How Do You Build Tunnels and Bridges Underwater?

When I was a kid, I discovered a Calvin and Hobbes comic strip that posed one of my own burning questions: How do they know the load limit on bridges? Calvin’s dad (incorrectly) tells him, “They drive bigger and bigger trucks over it until it breaks. Then they weigh the last truck and rebuild the bridge.”Several decades later, I’m a geotechnical engineer. That means that I work on any construction projects that involve soil.

Second Staten Island Ferry Ecospeed Application

Recently the underwater hull of m/v Sen. John J. Marchi, one of the ferries owned by Staten Island Ferries was coated with Ecospeed in Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.A. This is the second ferry owned by Staten Island Ferries that was given an Ecospeed treatment after m/v John Noblewas coated in Bridgeport, Connecticut last year. Ecospeed was also applied on one the company’s fuel barges in Staten Island, New York earlier this year and a third ferry is planned to be coated later this year.

Optimizing Cathodic Protection Survey Using Non-contact Sensors

The principle behind sacrificial anodes, which are used to safeguard underwater pipelines and structures from corrosion, is relatively straightforward. Made of alloys like aluminum, Zinc and is some cases Magnesium, the anodes are more reactive in the electrochemical process than the steel used in pipelines and other subsea structures. When connected to a structure, the anodes willingly 'sacrifice' themselves by corroding first…

NOC Awarded $3.5m to Explore Expanding Ocean Desertification

Scientists at the UK’s National Oceanography Centre (NOC) are leading a new, five-year funded project to investigate the alarming expansion of ocean deserts—vast regions of the ocean with little life or nutrients.The research, supported by a USD$3.5 million (£2.6 million) European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant, will explore whether microscopic organisms called diazotrophs could slow or even reverse this trend.Subtropical gyres…

d’ROP Bibby’ Hydromap’s Custom-built ROV

Self-dubbed a ‘revolution in coastal ROV survey,’ Bibby HydroMap unveiled its d’ROP system onboard its new survey vessel, Bibby Athena, a the National Oceanographic Center in Southampton, UK. MTR spoke with Andrew McLeay, Managing Director of Bibby HydroMap, for details. In an industry where innovation is common, Bibby HydroMap’s d’ROP system truly stood out at an active Ocean Business last month in Southampton.

DOF Extends VSAT Contract with Marlink

DOF Group has renewed its VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) services contract with Marlink for five more years, with options to further extend the services. Under the new contract announced at Nor-Shipping 2015, Marlink will provide customized VSAT services to 60 DOF owned offshore and subsea vessels, counting an additional eight vessels on the previous contract, including several imminent newbuilds.

Discovery of New Rock Property Earns Prize

The discovery of a new fundamental rock property will improve estimates of underground resources, such as hydrocarbons and drinking water, as well as CO₂ storage reservoir capacity. The revelation that electricity can flow more easily through sedimentary rocks in the vertical, rather than horizontal, direction is contrary to established scientific wisdom. This finding will improve the interpretation of geological fluid flow from geophysical surveys.

Arctech Helsinki Shipyard Delivered Icebreaking Offshore Vessel

Arctic offshore vessel NB-506 Vitus Bering was delivered at Helsinki Shipyard on Friday 21.12.2012 to the client Sovcomflot, the largest shipping corporation in Russia. The vessel will supply the Arkutun-Dagi oil and gas field in Sakhalin area, in Far East Russia. Vitus Bering is the first vessel of the series, the sister vessel NB-507 will be delivered in April 2013. ”Delivering this vessel today is an important achievement for Arctech.

High-tech Dives on an Ancient Wreck

When sponge divers first chanced upon the shipwreck off the Greek isle of Antikythera in 1900, they couldn’t have known that it would become the richest ancient shipwreck ever discovered. But they soon found that this was no ordinary wreck, as they pulled up jewelry, coins, glassware, and life-size bronze and marble statues now housed in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. The pièce de résistance was the unique and mysterious Antikythera Mechanism…

Sonardyne Launches Leak Detection Sonar

Sonardyne International has announced the launch of an Automatic Leak Detection Sonar (ALDS) at the Oceanology International Exhibition and Conference in London. The Sonardyne product is an active sonar capable of detecting and localizing deep water hydrocarbon leaks around offshore installations and pipelines soon after they develop, allowing operators to respond immediately and accurately in the case of a leak.ALDS is designed to detect oil and gas leaks at significant ranges…

Kongsberg’s Jalving Wins MTS Achievement Award

Bjørn Jalving, Executive Vice President Subsea at maritime, offshore and subsea technology developer Kongsberg Maritime has been given the Compass Distinguished Achievement Award from the Marine Technology Society. The award ceremony took place on September 16 at the OCEANS 2014 MTS/IEEE conference in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada. This award is presented to an individual whose work has had significant impact on the fields of marine science and technology.

US Invests Nearly $16 Million to Advance Marine Energy

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced two marine energy projects will receive a combined $6 million to develop a tidal energy research, development, and demonstration pilot site in the United States.In addition, a community-led river current energy research and development project was selected to receive $9.5 million.Tides and currents are incredibly predictable, meaning these resources…

Oceaneering Freedom AUV Gets a Look for Defense Applications

Oceaneering International said its Aerospace and Defense Technologies (ADTech) business segment won a contract by the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), a U.S. Department of Defense organization, for the development and testing of the Freedom Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) as a potential Large Displacement Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (LDUUV) prototype for the U.S. Navy’s Program Office for Advanced…