Maldives Protects Fishery with GOST Nav-Tracker

GOST (Global Ocean Security Technologies) announced that its Nav-Tracker 3.0 VMS has been adapted for use by the Indian Ocean archipelago nation of The Maldives to prevent illegal encroachment on protected island fisheries and preserve special areas for traditional fishing techniques. GOST in conjunction with both The Maldives Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture and the Maldives government-owned…

Summer Shark Research Heats Up at WHOI

WHOI scientists will collaborate with the non-profit shark research organization OCEARCH on a month-long expedition starting out on 31, July 2013, to tag white sharks and collect valuable blood and tissue samples off the coast of Cape Cod. The OCEARCH vessel is uniquely equipped to catch, tag, and bio-sample sharks before they are released. As mythic as sharks are, surprisingly little is known about these apex ocean predators.

RV Belgica to Undergo Electrical Systems Refit

System integrator Alewijnse Marine Systems said it has won an order for an electrical systems refit aboard RV Belgica, an oceanographic research vessel owned by the Belgian state. Prior to the assignment, Alewijnse carried out a year-long research project on a limited lifetime extension of the vessel. The refit will start in April 2016 and take several months to complete. RV Belgica celebrated her…

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…

Shell Tests Off-Site Rig in Office Backyard

The only off-site rig of its kind for testing new oil and gas drilling techniques lies sandwiched between office blocks in a peaceful Dutch suburb, says Shell. Drilling is vital to unlocking energy supplies to meet the world’s growing needs. Engineers rely on advanced equipment to bore wells deep into the ground or seabed to access the oil and gas resources that lie there. As many remaining resources are trapped tightly in rock pores or located thousands of metres beneath the seafloor…

Schlumberger to Acquire Coiled Tubing Drilling Units

Schlumberger has announced  it has entered into an agreement to acquire the coiled tubing drilling and coiled tubing units from Xtreme Drilling and Coil Services Corp. (TSX:XDC), a Calgary-based provider of international land drilling and coiled tubing drilling services. Xtreme currently owns a fleet of 11 coiled tubing units located in Saudi Arabia and the United States. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the third quarter.

Sweden’s First AIS Aid to Navigation Deployed

True Heading, manufacturer of Automatic Identification System (AIS) solutions, GPS compasses and app navigation, has supplied an AIS Aid to Navigation (ATON) beacon to the Port of Stockholm, Sweden. Located at Stockholm Stream (Stockholm Ström) and the first of its kind in Sweden, local authorities launched a new buoy with the True Heading ATON transponder to assist commercial and recreational ships moving in and out of the busy harbor.

General Dynamics Tests U.S. Navy UUVs

General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics, completed the comprehensive risk reduction program for the U.S. Navy’s Knifefish Surface Mine Countermeasure Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (UUV) program. Designed to discover any potential systems defect early on in the program’s development phase, the configuration item test (CIT) successfully verified key components within…

Hyperdynamics Continue Search for Offshore Guinea Oil

Hyperdynamics Corporation say that Tullow Oil Guinea Ltd. has formally notified the Republic of Guinea, on behalf of the consortium that is exploring for oil offshore Guinea, of its intent to elect to extend the Second Exploration Period for an additional three years, as provided for under the terms of its existing Production Sharing Contract (PSC). During the three-year extension of the Second Exploration Period – which extends through September 21…

TRDI to Host Underwater Navigation Training in Houston

Teledyne RD Instruments (TRDI) – manufacturer of Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCPs); Conductivity, Temperature and Depth (CTD); and Doppler Velocity Logs (DVLs) for offshore, academic and defense applications – announced it will host a two-day training seminar focused on their Doppler Velocity Log (DVL) technology in Houston, October 21-22, 2014. DVLs are used extensively onboard underwater platforms and surface vessels to provide precision navigation capability.

FPSO Operation Increased 84% in Past Decade

IMA/EMA recently completed an in-depth analysis of the floating production sector. Highlighted below are some key findings in Floating Production Systems: assessment of the outlook for FPSOs, Semis, TLPs, Spars, FLNGs, FSRUs and FSOs. FPSOs account for 61% of the existing systems. The balance is comprised of production semis, tension leg platforms, production spars, production barges and floating regasification/storage units.

Side-scan, ROV, Search for Lost Franklin Ships Under Way

The search capacity this year, beginning around 10, August 2013, for almost 6 weeks in the Canadian Arctic will be the most comprehensive yet:  Parks Canada will be joined by a broad array of partners for a fifth season in search for the historic shipwrecks 'HMS Erebus' and 'HMS Terror', from the ill-fated Sir John Franklin voyage. This year, the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and Defence Research & Development Canada (DRDC) will lend their expertise and enthusiasm to the project…

SeeByte Sells Five Seats of SeeTrack Military to PBP Enamor

SeeByte, a creator of smart software for unmanned maritime systems, announced the sale of five seats of SeeTrack Military MCM Evaluator Software to PBP Enamor Ltd., a Poland-based company that specializes in the supply and provision of services and design of modern ship automation, communication and navigation systems. The software package, which comes equipped with additional SeeTrack modules such as the Performance Analysis and Training Tool (PATT)…

More Keppel FELS Jackup Rigs for Mexico

Keppel FELS Limited , a wholly owned subsidiary of Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M), is on track to deliver three KFELS B Class jackup rigs to Mexican company, Grupo R, safely, on time and on budget. A world's first triple rig naming ceremony was held today at Keppel FELS' yard with Mr Chan Chun Sing, Singapore's Minister in Prime Minister's Office and Secretary-General of the National Trades Union Congress as the Guest of Honour.

DNV GL Initiative Aims to Cut Well P&A Costs

Plugging and abandonment (P&A) of offshore wells represents the highest cost within field decommissioning for operating companies and national authorities. DNV GL has now issued a new, globally applicable Recommended Practice (RP), on risk-based abandonment of offshore wells which in combination with optimized project execution and new technology could potentially reduce P&A costs by 30–50%. The framework outlined in the RP provides the possibility for individualized…

WHOI’ O’Hara Selected for NASA Astronaut Program

NASA’s most recent class of astronauts was introduced June 7, 2017 at Johnson Space Flight Center. Among the group of 12 astronaut candidates is Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) research engineer Loral O’Hara, selected from NASA’s largest ever applicant pool of more than 18,300. "We couldn’t be more proud of Loral for her selection into NASA's astronaut corps," said WHOI President and Director Mark Abbott.

Subnero Will Be at OCEANS 2014

Singapore-headquartered underwater network and communications company Subnero announced it will be at OCEANS 2014 from September 14-19, 2014 in St John’s, NL, Canada. Subnero focuses on enhancing underwater networks and communications. It offers high-performance underwater communications, navigation, monitoring and sensing solutions for researchers as well as commercial deployments. At the crux of these solutions is the flexible Subnero underwater modem.

UNOLS Seeks Input on the Regional Class Research Vessel

Over the past few months, the UNOLS Council and Fleet Improvement Committees have been working on a response for the NSF to evaluate the need on the number of regional class research vessels to be built as part of the UNOLS fleet replacement efforts. The UNOLS Council said it continues to discuss and research this issue and seeking community views and input. The UNOLS office will collect the feedback in advance of our Council meeting discussion in October 2014.

OSIL Small Field Buoys Deployed on Dredge Projects

International data buoy manufacturers Ocean Scientific International Ltd (OSIL) are reporting extensive use of its 0.7m Small Field Buoy on international dredging projects. The lightweight, easily repositionable buoys can be repeatedly deployed to follow in the path of dredgers in order to monitor plume activity, and are often complimented by the OSIL 1.2m Tern buoys, which provide more permanent monitoring stations for long term projects.

Wallace Joins Rovco as CTO

U.K.-based subsea company Rovco has appointed Dr. Iain Wallace o its senior management team as chief technology officer (CTO). A former technical lead for the European Space Agency, Wallace will drive the development of a real-time 3D vision system for ROVs and AUVs. He will also explore how artificial intelligence can be used to solve asset integrity issues by extracting actionable information from traditional video survey data.