Fiber-rope Retrofit Extends Subsea Crane Capabilities

MacGregor, part of Cargotec, has launched a fiber-rope retrofit option for its subsea cranes; the modular upgrade replaces the crane's original steel wire rope with synthetic fiber rope, using the same technology as MacGregor’s fiber-rope crane, the FiberTrac 1500, introduced earlier this year. These cranes combine MacGregor's offshore crane technology with the fiber-rope tensioning technology perfected by Parkburn Precision Handling Systems.

Ocean Cleanup Prototype Set for a Test Run

The first ocean cleanup system ever tested at sea will soon be deployed for trials 23 kilometers (12 NM) off the Dutch coast. The goal of the test is to see how the floating barrier design is able to cope in extreme weather at sea during a 12-month period. The Ocean Cleanup, a Dutch foundation developing advanced technologies to rid the oceans of plastic, unveiled its North Sea prototype today in the presence of The Netherlands government…

Charting the Shift of Oceanic Boundary Currents

Global warming results in fundamental changes to important ocean currents. As scientists from the Alfred-Wegener-Institute show in a new study, wind-driven subtropical boundary currents in the northern and southern hemisphere are not only going to increase in strength by the end of this century. The Kuroshio Current, the Agulhas Current and other oceanic currents are shifting their paths towards the pole and thus carry higher temperatures and thus the risk of storms to temperate latitudes.

Security Check List for Internet Access at Sea

An increase in internet access at sea will lead to an increased risk of suffering a cyber-attack, says a research report by Protection Vessels International. However, if addressed correctly, this risk can be lowered to sit comfortably within the acceptable risk tolerance levels of an organisation. Britain is a maritime nation. We depend on the sea to trade with others. Over 90% of the world’s trade goes by sea – this figure is 95% for the United Kingdom.

New Remotely Operated Hydrographic Survey Boat

Teledyne Oceanscience has introduced a new remotely operated hydrographic survey boat suited for inland waters such as streams, rivers and lakes. The new trimaran style Z-Boat 1250 is “sturdy enough for tough terrain but light enough to be one person portable,” according to Teledyne. The vehicle has a lightweight hull manufactured from acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastic, and is IP67 rated, which makes it well suited to survey in most water conditions.

Maersk Drilling Secures Nexen Contract

Danish driller Maersk Drilling has been awarded a contract by Nexen Petroleum for the drilling of three wells and options for nine additional wells at UK’s largest producing oil field, the Buzzard field in the Central North Sea. The drilling campaign is for the Buzzard Phase II Development Project and is planned to commence around July 2018. The estimated duration of the initial firm contract period is 225 days.

Aerial Drones Take Flight Offshore

Oil and gas companies are using unmanned aircraft system (UAS) technology to improve safety and efficiency in a growing range of applications, from infrastructure and maintenance inspection to security, emergency response and environmental and regulatory compliance. Today’s UAS programs are supported by payloads including high-definition video equipment, high-resolution still cameras, thermal imaging cameras and emission sensors – and there are many ways…

Morgan Advanced Materials Eyes Maritime Security Sector

As new threats in major oceans around the world continue to emerge, Morgan Advanced Materials has improved its production and design capability for piezoelectric ceramic (PZT) components and transducers used for underwater SONAR applications. Morgan is now able to offer a range of solutions which can be customized in terms of size, materials and sonar frequency to meet the technical demands of any underwater application.

Kongsberg Maritime: University Students Test Own DP algorithms

Students and researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) were given the opportunity to test their own Dynamic Positioning (DP) algorithms in a full-scale setting last week. The trials took place in the Trondheimsfjord aboard the ‘R/V Gunnerus’, the NTNU-owned research and education vessel to which KONGSBERG donated a state-of-the-art K-Pos DP system in 2015. Called ‘The AMOS DP Research Cruise 2016’…

Kraken Hires Director of Business Development

Jeff Bartkowski has joined Kraken Sonar Inc. as Director of Business Development, effective December 5, 2016. Bartkowski has been employed in the marine technology industry for over 12 years in subsea positioning, inertial navigation systems and high resolution sonar products. He has sales and business development experience with both commercial and defense customers and has worked at both larger marine…

Fugro Advances Bathymetric Lidar Mapping Capabilities

Fugro is introducing a new bathymetric lidar system that delivers industry-leading depth penetration and point densities for nearshore and coastal mapping. Known as RAMMS (Rapid Airborne Multibeam Mapping System), the field-proven technology promises to deliver an efficient and cost-effective solution, dramatically improving upon other bathymetric lidar mapping capabilities.“Traditional bathymetric lidar technology requires customers to compromise between price…

High-tech Sensors Advance Tsunami Monitoring

Accurate and long-term measurements of sea level, tidal harmonics and tsunami activity are a growing requirement to address global coastal developments and risk mitigation programs. Real-time tsunami monitoring and warning systems are being developed to save lives, model wave propagation and quantify coastal hazards.The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) has recently taken delivery of five…

Aker Solutions to Supply Umbilicals for Liuhua FPSO

Aker Solutions said it has been contracted to deliver power umbilical systems to China National Offshore Oil Corporation's (CNOOC) Liuhua oil fields in the South China Sea, off Hong Kong.The order, which is said to be worth more than NOK 350 million ($36.6 million), was booked in the third quarter of 2018. The work scope includes more than 35 kilometers of dynamic and static power umbilicals for the Liuhua 16-2…

RRS Sir David Attenborough Launched

The hull of the U.K.’s new polar research ship RRS Sir David Attenborough was launched from Cammell Laird shipyard Saturday, marking a major milestone toward the completion of one of the world’s most advanced scientific maritime vessels.Shipyard workers, engineers, scientists and maritime industry experts were among thousands who gathered to celebrate the launch along with special guest speakers, including renowned naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough…

All IOOS Regional Networks Are Now NOAA-certified

NOAA announced it has certified the last of 11 Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) regional associations as Regional Information Coordination Entities. Data coming from all IOOS partners now adheres to common federal collection, storage and management standards, meaning it can be integrated with other data, and help make "big data" research and development possible.IOOS is a coordinated network of regional associations that compile and distribute data on America’s coastal waters…

Shearwater to Buy Schlumberger’s Seismic Business

Norwegian marine geophysical services company Shearwater GeoServices Holding AS has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the marine seismic acquisition assets and operations of Schlumberger’s geophysical services product line, WesternGeco.The transaction, which remains subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2018.Houston…

Total Deploy LBL Network in Record Time

Following on from the installation of a Long BaseLine (LBL) acoustic positioning network at the giant Egina oil field off the coast of Nigeria, French oil major Total and its project partners have repeated their success using the same Sonardyne Fusion 6G technology offshore Angola at the even larger, even deeper, Kaombo oil field. The campaign to deploy, calibrate and make ready for work the field-wide array of transponder frames…

Bourbon Orders ROV Launch and Recovery System

Kongsberg Maritime subsidiary Kongsberg Evotec informs it has signed an agreement with Bourbon Offshore Norway for the delivery of the E-LARS launch and recovery system for remote operated vehicles (ROV). The system, to be delivered in December 215, will be installed on an advanced new VARD 2-12 ARCTIC design AHTS vessel, which is developed for worldwide operations, including arctic regions. Through the development of E-LARS…

C-Innovation ROVs inks deal with Sonardyne

C-Innovation, an integrated marine services company whose core services and products evolve around ROVs within the oil and gas sector, has placed a major order for SPRINT Inertial Navigation Systems (INS) from Sonardyne International Ltd. SPRINT is an acoustically aided inertial navigation system for subsea vehicles and makes optimal use of acoustic aiding data from acoustic USBL and LBL positioning and other sensors such as Doppler Velocity Log (DVL) and pressure sensors.

New Icebreaker Arktika Under RS Survey

Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RS) has performed survey of the forged blanks of a new generation RITM-200 reactor vessel for the lead dual draft nuclear icebreaker Arktika (project 22220). The new icebreaker Arktika is built to RS class with the class notation КМ   Icebreaker 9   AUT2-ICS EPP. During the construction of the icebreaker, RS experts performed survey of hull, machinery, equipment…