Global Maritime Establishes Technical Authority Board

Global Maritime Consultancy & Engineering, a provider of marine warranty, dynamic positioning and engineering services to the offshore sector, has established a Technical Authority Board to be led by Alberto Morandi, formerly head of Global Maritime Americas. Global Maritime said the Technical Authority Board will promote excellence throughout the company, ensuring consistent and high-quality technical standards.

Unmanned Submarine-Hunter Contract Awarded

US Defense Advanced Research Prjoject Agency (DARPA) contracts Science Applications International Corp. to develop an autonomous surface vessel to track and follow enemy subs for months. The growing number of adversaries able to build and operate quiet diesel electric submarines is a national security threat that affects U.S. and friendly naval operations around the world. To address this emerging threat…

US Navy Supports Sustainable Fisheries

“You're probably wondering why the Navy is up here today,” said Rear Adm. Tim Gallaudet, Oceanographer of the U.S. Navy, who moderated a panel regarding the sustainment of fisheries around the world's oceans at a conference at the State Department attended by President Barack Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry and actor Leonardo DiCaprio. “We do much to support this [combating illegal unregulated…

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…

iXBlue and Septentrio Create ATLANS-C

iXBlue, a leading provider of navigation, positioning, and mapping solutions, today launched its new ATLANS-C position and orientation system, developed in close cooperation with Septentrio Satellite Navigation. The system is designed to provide continuous and accurate positioning in urban environments, where global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signals are obscured, intermittent, or possibly distorted by reflective surfaces.

Transocean Drilling Rig Fleet Update Summary

Transocean Ltd. has issued a monthly Fleet Update Summary which includes new contracts, significant changes to existing contracts, and changes in estimated planned out-of-service time of 15 or more days since January 16, 2014. The total value of new contracts since the January 16, 2014 Fleet Status Report is approximately $66 million. Estimated 2014 out-of-service time increased by a net 150 days,…

Tendeka to Present at Next SPE Event

Advanced completion technology: past, present and future. Advanced completion technology covers a powerful range of equipment and techniques in the oil and gas industry and is set to be the focus at Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Aberdeen Section evening meeting later this month. Annabel Green, product line director at Tendeka, the provider of completions systems and services to the upstream oil and gas industry…

Construction of Mermaid Ausana Begins

Mermaid Maritime Public Company announced that it has marked the start of its new vessel / rig construction by participating in a steel cutting ceremony for its performance class tender rig ‘MTR-3’ and DP2 multipurpose subsea dive support and construction vessel ‘Mermaid Ausana’. The ceremony took place at the shipyards of China Merchants Heavy Industry in China in Nantong and Shenzhen, respectively.

Rising Tide of Innovation at Davos to Keep Plastic out of the Sea

Technology that could avoid the equivalent of 100 garbage bags of plastic waste being created per second received a funding boost at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday. The five winners of the "Circular Materials Challenge", which focuses on the 30 percent of plastic packaging that is too small or complex to be recycled and often ends up in the ocean, will share the $1 million prize to develop their solutions…

First Images of Historic San Francisco Shipwreck

NOAA and its partners released 3D sonar maps and images of an immigrant steamship lost more than 100 years ago in what many consider the worst maritime disaster in San Francisco history. On Feb. 22, 1901, in a dense morning fog, the SS City of Rio de Janeiro struck jagged rocks near the present site of the Golden Gate Bridge and sank almost immediately, killing 128 of the 210 passengers and crew aboard the ship.

Kongsberg Delivers 50th HAIN System

Kongsberg Maritime has delivered its 50th HAIN (Hydro Acoustic aided Inertial Navigation) Reference System, to long-time HAIN user, Ocean Rig. HAIN significantly improves reference data accuracy and update rate sent to Dynamic Positioning (DP) systems to support safer, more reliable and efficient offshore drilling operation. It is also suitable for applications including offshore loading and specialist operations such as offshore construction.

Images of Historic San Francisco Wreck Revealed

NOAA and partners released three-dimensional sonar maps and images of an immigrant steamship lost more than 100 years ago in what many consider the worst maritime disaster in San Francisco history. On Feb. 22, 1901, in a dense morning fog, the SS City of Rio de Janeiro struck jagged rocks near the Golden Gate Bridge and sank almost immediately, killing 128 of the 210 passengers and crew aboard the ship.

Maersk Drilling Takes Delivery of First of Four Ultra-Deepwater Drillships

Maersk Drilling informs it has taken delivery of its first ultra deepwater drillship, 'Maersk Viking', from the Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) shipyard in Geoje-Si, South Korea. The new vessel has started its voyage to the US Gulf of Mexico where it will commence a three year contract with ExxonMobil. The owners explain that Maersk Viking is the first in a series of four ultra deepwater drillships to enter Maersk Drilling’s fleet.

US Navy to Survey Downed Aircraft in the Philippine Sea

The U.S. Navy said it has contracted a research vessel owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen to survey the location of a downed C-2A Greyhound plane before attempts are made to recover the aircraft from 18,500 feet below the surface in the Philippine Sea. The C-2A Greyhound was transporting 11 crew and passengers when it crashed into the ocean on November 22, 2017, killing three. On December 29…

Fairbank Joins SBG Systems’ Sales Team

MEMS-based inertial motion sensing solutions supplier SBG Systems has hired Chelsea Fairbank as Sales Engineer in North America. She will team up with Jack Mawson, Sales Manager North America at the company’s U.S. office in Huntington Beach, Calif. and will be in charge of the marine and education segments. Fairbank has an extensive background in the hydrographic industry, starting her career as hydrographic surveyor.

GD Mission Systems: Full-throttle Charge toward Autonomy

Carlo Zaffanella is vice president and general manager of Maritime and Strategic Systems (M&SS) for General Dynamics Mission Systems. The M&SS business includes submarine and surface ship electronic systems integration as well as the design, build and support of a broad array of subsurface, surface, air, airport and strategic subsystems, meaning he is perfectly positioned to lead MTR’s ‘vehicles’ edition…

3D at Depth Completes 300 Offshore LiDAR Metrologies

Advanced subsea LiDAR (SL) systems and survey support services provider 3D at Depth Inc. said it has completed its 300th subsea LiDAR spool metrology. The subsea LiDAR measurement, conducted offshore within the Mediterranean Sea, covered eight long spool metrologies with lengths greater than 90m and was completed in 24 hours. The project delivered considerable savings overall for the EPIC installation contractor and provided valuable 3D data for the end user, a oil and gas major.

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.

Tech File: Imagenex 881AL-GS Gyro-stabilized Scanning Sonar

The Imagenex model 881A-GS, 881L-GS (881A/L-GS) and 882-GS are gyro stabilized, high resolution scanning sonars. Manufactured in Canada, the 881A/L-GS is available in models built to withstand depths up to 10,000 meters and can scan and display targets from 0.2 to 200 meters away. Available with either an RS-485, RS-232 or Ethernet interface gives the user a wide range of options for integration into an existing underwater platform.

Keppel to Build Jackup for China Waters

Keppel FELS Limited (Keppel FELS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Keppel Offshore & Marine (Keppel O&M) has secured a contract from TS Offshore Limited (TS Offshore), to construct an ultra-high specification jackup rig worth approximately $500 million. Scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of 2017, the jackup will be the first built to Keppel's new proprietary KFELS N Plus design. With its leg measuring 678 feet or about 68 stories tall…