Delta SubSea Adds New Vessel

Delta SubSea has entered into an agreement with Norwegian company Olympic Shipping AS for the Olympic Delta, a newly built Multipurpose Subsea Support & Construction Vessel. The Olympic Delta is a 94m-long green-friendly vessel designed for greatly reduced fuel consumption and emissions. It will carry two Schilling HD 150 HP work-class remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) from DSS’s fleet, with the focus on inspection, repair and maintenance jobs, says a statement from the company.

New Software from EIVA

The EIVA NaviSuite software suite now includes a dedicated solution for anchor handling operations that offers advanced catenary simulation. This ensures users data they can trust and a complete picture of the entire operation. NaviSuite Beka is designed to be a versatile, scalable and user-friendly software solution that increases the efficiency and safety of anchor handling operations during rig move and barge management projects.

Simulation Training Profile: Chris Hearn, Memorial University

Memorial University in St. Johns, Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada, is a microcosm of how this unique regional cluster has parlayed its geographic locale and harsh, unique operating conditions into world leadership in the maritime, offshore energy and subsea tech spaces. An alumni, a professional mariner and now the Director of the Center for Marine Simulation, the Fisheries & Marine Institute at Memorial University…

Shearwater and Mondaic Enter Strategic Alliance to Optimize Seismic Surveys

Marine seismic acquisition firm Shearwater Geoservices and Mondaic, a provider of proprietary software and services for high-resolution 3D imaging, have entered a strategic collaboration for development and use of full waveform inversion solutions to enhance high-resolution subsurface imaging and optimize seismic acquisition surveys.As part of the agreement, Shearwater has acquired exclusive and perpetual…

Europe’s Deepest Glider Under Development

Nineteen partners from across Europe have come together to develop Europe’s first ultra-deep-sea robot glider. This glider will be capable of sampling the ocean autonomously at depths of 5000m, and maybe more in the future, for up to three months at a time. This project, which includes the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), has won 8 million Euro of funding from the European Union’s Horizon2020 programme to develop and test this innovative new technology.

HHI’s New Weather System Helps Plan Sea Trials

A new system has been developed by South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) to help better manage sea trial schedules for vessels built at its Ulsan yard. The new Sea Weather Forecasting System, developed by HHI in collaboration with Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology (KIOST), analyzes sea weather information such as wave height, wind speed and current patterns on an hourly basis in seven offshore areas including Ulsan…

BIRNS Invests in Testing, Inspection Equipment

BIRNS, Inc. informs it has recently invested in new equipment for the development and testing protocols for its range of connectors and cable assemblies. The investment, which BIRNS said is to meet the needs of the ever-increasing levels of precision that are required in the applications of the company’s wide customer base, will see the NAVSEA PRO-020 certified global subsea design and manufacturing company add two new precision inspection machines to its engineering and testing programs.

Harkand Completes $10.5 mln DSV Upgrade

Harkand informs it has completed the $10.5 million upgrade of its Gulf of Mexico based dive support vessel (DSV) Swordfish. Originally built in 2007, the Swordfish is the youngest DSV in this region. The fully International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) compliant, ABS classed, 104-meter-long, DP2 DSV features a newly upgraded 15-man saturation diving system with a three-man bell along with a new 165-foot surface diving system.

Adventure Under Ice

Louis Whitcomb makes it possible for remote controlled underwater robotic vehicles to explore the most extreme environments on earth—including the icy depths of the arctic. Out in the middle of of the Arctic Ocean, a German icebreaker, Polarstern, punches its way slowly through arctic sea ice to a spot just a few hundred miles shy of the North Pole. Polarstern is no mere icebreaker, however: It is a floating scientific laboratory.

iXBlue Launches the Fifth-Generation OCTANS

iXBlue is unveiling the fifth-generation OCTANS, the trusted reference in survey-grade navigation. The new OCTANS is an all-in-one gyrocompass and motion sensor (attitude and heading reference system, AHRS) and brings in new and enhanced features, including IMO/ IMO-HSC certification and inertial navigation system (INS) product upgrade-path. The fifth-generation OCTANS gives marine customers more product variant choices…

DOE Launches $1.7 Million Marine Energy Prize

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has launched the Powering the Blue Economy™: Power at Sea Prize, which will award up to $1.7 million to competitors to advance technologies that use marine energy to power ocean-based activities.Next-generation maritime or “blue” technologies are moving farther offshore to capture data across the ocean. Applications may include ocean-observing devices, aquaculture installations, and much more, and all require access to consistent, locally available power.

UTEC Puts Upgraded AUV on Try-Outs Offshore Australia

UTEC, a geo-services brand in Acteon’s Data and Robotics division, has conducted trials on its upgraded Gavia autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), off Fremantle in Western Australia.The AUV has recently undergone significant upgrades and the addition of new modules including the subsea ultra-short baseline (USBL) aiding the vehicle inertial navigation system (INS) positioning.The trial tested the AUV…

MTR100: Greensea

No. Greensea was founded in 2006 to provide the offshore industry with advanced navigation, control, and automation software in an operator-friendly workspace. The company has since installed systems on hundreds of vehicles, and provides software solutions to numerous OEMs, U.S. Government facilities, science and academic institutions, and end users. Its strength stems from a team of engineers with extensive experience with integrated underwater navigation systems and advanced vehicle control.

ROV Operations Market Facing Near-term Challenges

Energy industry analyst and consultancy Douglas-Westwood (DW) forecast the market for the operation of work-class remotely operated vehicles (ROV) to total $14.2 billion over the period to 2019, in its seventh edition of the World ROV Operations Market Forecast. The report's author, Antoine Paillat, commented, "This represents a 19 percent increase on the previous five-year period, however, near-term…

The Deepwater Sector's Perfect Storm

The drop in oil/gas prices and ongoing implosion in Petrobras have combined to create a perfect storm in the deepwater sector. More than 170 projects involving oil production floaters and 35 floating liquefaction projects are in the planning stage. But oil company capital budgets are being trimmed to offset the downturn in revenue and investment decisions are being deferred until oil pricing rebounds…

Kraken Robotics Sees Strong Momentum Continuing

Kraken Robotics has filed its financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2023, highlighting that consolidated revenue for Q4 2023 was $28.0 million compared to $8.8 million, an increase of 218% over the comparable quarter and marked the company’s strongest quarter to date for both the product and service businesses.Revenue mix was 70% Product / 30% Service. Product revenue in the quarter was $19.6 million…

Bedrock Picks Exail’s Phins 9 Navigation for Next-Gen AUV

Exail has concluded its first sale of the Phins 9 Compact Inertial Navigation System (INS) to Bedrock, an underwater data acquisition platforms specialist.The Phins 9 Compact INS will be integrated into Bedrock’s new autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV).Bedrock's AUV is a purpose-built, modular platform designed for deployment for geophysical surveys and monitoring.Equipped with Multibeam Echosounder (MBES)…

Hydrogen-Hybrid Research Vessel Earns AIP

Glosten was awarded an Approval in Principle (AIP) by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) for the design of UC San Diego’s new hydrogen-hybrid Coastal-Class Research Vessel (CCRV). The CCRV will be operated by Scripps Institution of Oceanography and feature a propulsion system that uses hydrogen fuel cells for zero-emissions operation.Glosten and the project’s electrical integrator, Siemens Energy (SE), completed the preliminary design for the CCRV in March 2024.

MacArtney, Elettra Work to Enhance Subsea Monitoring

MacArtney announced a partnership with Elettra Tlc to deliver critical subsea infrastructure for the Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), enhancing its capacity for environmental monitoring and research.The scope of this collaboration involves installing and connecting a new subsea power, communication and data transmission network located 2,200m deep and 35km offshore from Catania…

Meet ‘Super GPS’: XONA Ups the Space Race Ante

With a mission to power the current and next-generation of GPS-enabled products and systems, XONA Space Systems keeps the mantra ‘precision, power and protection’ in all that it does as this 2020-start-up designs, builds and launches its fleet of low earth orbit satellites. We spoke with XONA CEO Brian Manning for his insights on how this could impact the maritime, offshore energy and subsea sectors.The following was excerpted from Maritime Reporter TV’s interview with XONA CEO Brian Manning.