Shipwrecks Teem with Underwater Life, from Microbes to Sharks

Humans have sailed the world’s oceans for thousands of years, but they haven’t all reached port. Researchers estimate that there are some three million shipwrecks worldwide, resting in shallow rivers and bays, coastal waters and the deep ocean. Many sank during catastrophes – some during storms or after running aground, others in battle or collisions with other vessels.Shipwrecks like the RMS Titanic…

Wärtsilä Receives Repeat Order from Evergas

Three new 27,000 cbm LNG/Multigas Carriers for Evergas, the Denmark based transporter of petrochemical gases and natural gas liquids, are to be built featuring the integrated Wärtsilä solution, comprising the main propulsion equipment, the gas fuel supply system, and the cargo handling system. This order is an extension of the one placed in 2013 for a series of three similar vessels. The ships are being built by the Sinopacific Offshore & Engineering (SOE) shipyard in China…

Missing Submarine Found Broken Up, 53 Dead

A missing Indonesian submarine has been found, broken into at least three parts, at the bottom of the Bali Sea, army and navy officials said on Sunday, as the president sent condolences to relatives of the 53 crew.Rescuers also found new objects, including a life vest, that they believe belong to those aboard the 44-year old KRI Nanggala-402, which lost contact on Wednesday as it prepared to conduct a torpedo drill."Based on the evidence…

FORCE Expands Tidal Energy Project Team

Nova Scotia's efforts to harness the power of the highest tides in the world are accelerating this year, and more people are joining the project to help ensure its success. Today, speaking to industry, science, and government representatives at the Nova Scotia Energy Research and Development Forum, Tony Wright, general manager of FORCE (the Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy), announced two new…

3D at Depth Acquires Hybrid AUV/ROV

Subsea laser LiDAR (SL) technology and 3D data visualization solutions specialist 3D at Depth Inc. has acquired Saab Sabertooth Hybrid AUV / ROV. The company said that the multi-million-dollar investment will complement 3D at Depth's SL Subsea LiDAR laser technology systems and 3rd party geophysical equipment, giving the company "an impressive spread of integrity measurement equipment.""The Hybrid…

iXBlue GAPS Makes its Mark in Mexico

C&C Technologies has purchased the iXBlue fourth-generation GAPS USBL acoustic positioning system for the company’s Mexico division. This will be the first time the system is directly available to customers in Mexico. The new system, which was launched by iXBlue early in 2014, will be used to track subsea systems in shallow and deep waters in the Gulf of Mexico and to support a range of other subsea applications such as ROVs, subsea equipment placement, and diver operations.

DST Toolstring Deployed in Gulf of Mexico

International oilfield services company, Expro, has deployed its new design ExACT (Expro Annulus-Operated Circulating and Test Tool) in its first live offshore well. The successful operation, a tubing conveyed perforating ‘shoot and pull’, took place on the Vermillion field offshore in the Gulf of Mexico following trial work onshore in Brazil last year. The tool, one of the most advanced of its kind, combines downhole shut-in and circulating functionality.

PSAT Used for Trout Study on Lake Superior

For the last decade pop-up satellite tags (PSAT) have been used to track migrations of our most important marine mega fauna such as bluefin tuna, great white sharks and other underwater species. Recent technological advances in tagging have finally allowed for the same technology to be transferred to fresh water. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources in conjunction with the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee and U.S.

Disasters at Sea & Their Impact on Shipping Regulation

The history of marine safety is soaked in water and written in blood. “I think that most people will tell you that changes in marine safety are almost exclusively disaster-driven,” agrees Dr. Josh Smith, a professor at Kings Point and interim director of the American Merchant Marine Museum. It hasn’t always been that way. Actually, it’s been worse. Despite some efforts early on to exert some control over shipping practices…

KVH Industries Acquires Videotel

KVH Industries, Inc., acquired Videotel, a producer of high-quality training films and e-Learning services for the commercial maritime industry. Servicing over 11,000 vessels, Videotel is a market leader in the provision of maritime training services, offering video, animation, e-Learning computer-based training (CBT), and interactive distance learning courses. “The acquisition of Videotel is an important…

Thien Nam Purchases Sonardyne’s Ranger 2

Vietnamese survey company Thien Nam Positioning JSC has recently invested in its first Ranger 2 USBL acoustic positioning system from Sonardyne International Ltd., purchased through the company’s regional office in Singapore. Ranger 2 will be used to track a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) during the installation of a pipe flowline and a gas export pipeline protection mattress in an oilfield offshore Vietnam.

UK Spurs Autonomous Shipping Development

The autonomous and smart shipping industry is set to receive a boost, after the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) and the Department for Transport (DfT), in collaboration with the National Oceanography Center’s (NOC) Marine Robotics Innovation Center, successfully secured £1 million in a bid to accelerate the U.K. into a world-leading position in this area.The funding, awarded by the U.K. Government’s Department for Business…

Finalists Complete for $2 Mln Wave Energy Prize

U.S. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that nine teams have been named finalists in the Wave Energy Prize—a 20-month design-build-test competition—and will proceed to the next phase of the competition. The nine finalists and two alternates, identified from the 17 remaining official qualified teams, will continue their quest to double the energy captured from ocean waves and win a prize purse totaling more than $2 million.

SBG Systems Launches New Inertial Sensors

SBG Systems has released the Apogee-M and the Apogee-U, two new inertial sensors to complete the Apogee product line. The Apogee-M is a Motion Reference Unit (MRU), and the Apogee-U is an Inertial Navigation System. Both are made of titanium with a depth rating of 200 meters. Apogee Series is an inertial navigation systems (INS) based on the MEMS technology. One year after the release of the Apogee surface sensors (IP68 enclosure)…

Sonardyne to Debut New Technologies at OI 2016

Subsea technology company Sonardyne International Ltd will debut its expanded lineup of ROV and AUV navigation solutions during next week’s Oceanology International exhibition and conference in London. New additions to the company’s Lodestar AHRS and SPRINT INS product lines mean that there is now a model to suit all underwater vehicle applications and budgets. As all versions utilize the same small…

NYK Aims at Developing New Shipping and Logistics Solution

Tokyo-based shipping line NYK Group (Nippon Yusen Kaisha) has decided to establish a new company, Symphony Creative Solutions (SCS) in Singapore, to develop and market new solutions in the shipping and logistics fields. NYK, along with its subsidiaries, the Monohakobi Technology Institute and NYK Business Systems, has teamed up with Weathernews and Kozo Keikaku Engineering for the new venture to further the development of the Symphony Project.

EIVA: Next-gen Survey, Nav & Positioning Package

NaviPac 4 is the result of a major overhaul of the survey navigation and positioning software developed by EIVA. The new software generation introduces both new and improved features, making for an even more effective tool as part of the NaviSuite software suite for offshore and shallow water operations. These features include a new configuration tool, LiDAR navigation capability and new Helmsman’s Display, just to mention a few.

3D Printed Prototypes for Kraken

Axis Prototypes helped shortened the product development cycle for a marine technology company Kraken Sonar Inc. 3D printing technology or additive manufacturing (AM) gives manufacturers the ability to churn our prototypes of with simple to complex geometries quickly and cost-effectively. Axis Prototypes, a 3d printing company based in Montreal, recently demonstrated these benefits when a marine technology company needed parts under a tight deadline. Kraken Sonar Inc.

Shell Selects Materia's Thermal Insulation System

Materia, Inc., in conjunction with Aegion Corporation, has been selected by Shell Offshore, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc (Shell), to supply pipeline insulation materials for the Appomattox development in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The insulation system is unique among existing polymers in its ability to provide an effective thermal barrier between flowlines and seawater.

Offshore Casualty: Harkand Group Collapses

As the prolonged slump in energy prices continues to drag on a number of oil and gas and maritime players, word has it that Harkand Group has succumbed, according to staff reports and a report on www.bbc.com. The company was a high-flyer building an enviable fleet of advanced tonnage. Established in 2012 and headquartered in London with operations bases in Aberdeen, Houston, Mexico, and Ghana, global…