SailBuoy Unmanned Surface Vehicle for Ocean Monitoring

(1) Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands (PLOCAN). PO Box 413, Telde. Spain; (2) Christian Michelsen Research (CMR). PO Box 6031, Bergen, Norway; (3) Instituto Canario de Ciencias Marinas (ICCM). PO Box 56, Telde. Ocean observatories play a crucial role in relevant aspects of the climate system on longer time-scales, including among others, global heat budget, sea level rise, potential variations in the meridional overturning circulation…

China-U.S. Ocean Thermal Energy Plant Development

Lockheed Martin and Reignwood Group to develop South China Sea ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) power plant. A memorandum of agreement between the two companies was signed recently in Beijing. Following the ceremony, both companies met with United States Secretary of State John Kerry during his first official state visit to the People’s Republic of China. The 10-megawatt offshore plant, to be designed by Lockheed Martin…

MWCC Establishes SURF Shorebase in Mobile, Ala.

Marine Well Containment Company (MWCC) announced  that Mobile, Ala. has been selected as the shorebase location to house the well containment company’s subsea umbilicals, risers and flowlines (SURF) equipment. MWCC's SURF equipment is an integral part of the company's expanded containment system (ECS) that will enhance the company’s well containment capabilities in the deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

New, New York Harbor Current Meter

NOAA uses data from a new current meter in New York harbor operated by New Jersey’s Stevens Institute of Technology. The system provides enhanced real-time information to mariners travelling through the nation’s second busiest port. The Stevens current meter measures the  direction, speed, and volume of ocean currents in the harbor’s navigation channels, north of the Narrows between Brooklyn and Staten Island.

Subsea Installation with IHC Waterhammer

IHC Hydrohammer, part of IHC Merwede, successfully used seawater instead of oil as a drive mechanism for the offshore installation industry. The company has developed and tested IHC Waterhammer technology to prepare it for launch to the market. This sustainable product development minimises potential oil spill hazards in the marine environment and presents new opportunities for deep-water offshore pile driving that will be beneficial to the future growth of offshore construction.

Mariscope Introduces New ROV to South America and Europe

In cooperation with the Kentucky-based company Acamar Maritime Solutions, LLC, Mariscope has developed the new McClean ROV cleaning system. The McClean is the first ROV with rotational heads using cavitation jetting technology to clean many types of underwater structures. During the official presentation carried out in March, 2013, in the city of Puerto Montt, Chile, Chuck Phillippe from ACAMAR and Christian Haag from Mariscope demonstrated the potentials of the system.

GE Spotlights Hi-tech Portfolio at OTC 2013

GE continues to expand its technology portfolio to address the challenges of offshore drilling & production and the rigors of deepwater drilling. Several GE business units showcased their latest products and services for the offshore sector in at the 2013 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC), which was expected to draw nearly 90,000 attendees. “With one of the industry’s most comprehensive portfolios of advanced technology solutions and services…

TechnipFMC Begins Operations Post-merger

TechnipFMC has begun operating as a unified oil and gas services company following completion of the merger of Houston-based FMC Technologies and paris-based Technip. Now with a combined 44,000 employees, the new TechnipFMC will work on oil and gas projects, technologies, systems and services “from concept to project delivery and beyond” with headquarters in Houston, London and Paris. A key focus for TechnipFMC will be project economics across subsea…

New Inertial Sensors for Unmanned and Autonomous Vehicles

Embedded sensing systems developer LORD Sensing MicroStrain said it has expanded its portfolio of sensors for unmanned and autonomous vehicles for air, land and sea with the introduction of the 3DM­GX5 family of inertial sensors. “We have a large portfolio that shares the same software and protocol, allowing customers to move up and down the product line where they need varying levels of precision with MEMS Inertial Sensors or GNSS,” said Andy Winzenz, Commercial Director, LORD Sensing.

Boskalis JV wins Santos Port dredging contract

Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. (Boskalis) and joint venture partner Van Oord have been awarded a contract by The Brazilian Ministry of Transport, Ports and Civil Aviation for the capital and maintenance dredging of the port of Santos, the largest port of South America. The contract carries a total value for the joint venture of approximately EUR 110 million. In the coming months, studies will be undertaken and the design of the navigation channels and berths of the port will be reviewed.

Why Did the El Faro Sink?

On October 1, 2015, the 790-foot cargo ship El Faro sank near the Bahamas during Hurricane Joaquin. All 33 crew members died in the tragedy. The ship was equipped with a voyage data recorder, or VDR, that could reveal clues to understand what happened, but it was lost in the depths. The VDR was mounted on the mast on the ship’s navigation bridge. A search expedition mounted in October located the wreck and discovered that the bridge had separated from the hull.

Subsea 7 Vessel Installs iXBlue DP-PHINS

iXBlue DP-PHINS Inertial Navigation System has been proven in operation offshore West Africa for Subsea 7. The system delivers a robust and secure position reference in the case of corrupted positioning from satellite systems due to ionospheric Interference. The 4 500 t DP2 Construction Support / Flex Lay vessel Simar Esperança has successfully completed FMEA (Failure Mode Effect Analysis) trials using the state of the art DP-PHINS inertial navigation system.

Pharos Acquires 1200HP Subsea Cable Trencher

Pharos Offshore Group has acquired an SMD built 1200HP cable burial tool. The Universal Trenching Vehicle (UTV 1200) is a unique low and wide Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) specifically designed to bury submarine power cables. Modifications to the 1200HP UTV 1200 are underway. The enhancements will facilitate more effective post lay/installation burial and improve the handling and stability of the vehicle.

Keppel Wins Add-on Mexican Jack-up Order

Keppel FELS, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M), has secured a contract to build a jackup rig worth US$206 million from repeat customer Grupo R, a Mexican drilling company. Scheduled for delivery in 4Q 2015, the jackup rig will be built to Keppel's proprietary KFELS B Class design. It will be added to the fleet of another four similar rigs that Keppel FELS is building for Grupo R.

New Hire at Rockland Scientific

Rockland Scientific Inc. (RSI) continues its growth with the hire of Emma Murowinski as Oceanographer. This position was created in response to increased research and development activity in RSI product line and applications as well as an overall demand for marine turbulence instrumentation and training in new geographic markets. RSI welcomes Emma as she completes a recent Masters of Science Degree in Physical Oceanography from the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences at University of Victoria…

Meridian Gyros Achieves China Type Approval

The Meridian Standard and Meridian Surveyor gyro compasses manufactured by Teledyne TSS have been given type approval by the China Classification Society. The approval was granted after the Society inspectors completed a detailed study of the gyros, their performance and reliability and the manufacturing processes and quality control methods employed at the Teledyne TSS factory in Watford, U.K. The…

Statewide Underwater Bridge Inspections by Fenstermaker

Fenstermaker's Underwater Acoustic specialists collaborate with the Louisiana Department of Transportation & Development to use advanced technologies and progressive methods in addressing America's failing infrastructure with a pioneer statewide underwater bridge inspection project. Summer is in full swing, but the grades posted in the 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) are downright chilling.

NDT Expert Joins Ashtead Technology

Ashtead Technology appointment Neil Harrap as Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) Market Manager. Neil is an experienced NDT specialist having spent 31 years in aerospace engineering with the Ministry of Defense, much of which was spent with the RAF. During this time, Neil’s roles included NDT Equipment Subject Matter Specialist, NDT Field Team Manager, Military Tri-Service NDT School Instructor and Aerospace Engineering Technician.

U.S. Navy Purchases Six New Iver AUVs

OceanServer Technology announced it received purchase orders for six new Iver AUVs across three different contracts.The vehicles will be utilized by four different Navy directorates for a variety of defense related applications. All six systems have or will be delivered within the next few months. The Iver platform has gained strong acceptance from Navy customers around the globe for high resolution imaging in littoral waters.

Guidance for NSF on National Ocean Research Priorities

Within the past decade, new science and technologies have led to breakthroughs and discoveries that have fundamentally altered our basic understanding of the oceans and their relationship to human populations. The value of the ocean to society has been highlighted by multiple commissions (the Pew Oceans Commission; the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy) and a science-based National Ocean Policy has been developed.