Making the Great Barrier Reef’s 3D Habitat Map

The mapping project, ‘3D live habitats for the full extent of the Great Barrier Reef,’ will provide maps of the predicted coral types and underwater landscape for the more than 3,000 reefs within the 350,000 sq. km of the GBR.EOMAP's technology provides essential data for this world-first project, in which the University of Queensland (UQ), Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, and the Australian…

Saildrone Closes $100 Million Series C Funding Round

Saildrone in mid-October announced the close of its $100 million Series C round, bringing its total funding to $190 million.Led by BOND, the round includes new investors XN, Standard Investments, Emerson Collective and Crowley Maritime Corporation, as well as participation from previous investors, Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund, Lux Capital, Social Capital and Tribe Capital. Saildrone said it will…

Eoltech Wins Repeat Contracts

Wind energy consulting firm Eoltech announced that it won contracts from major French customers to deploy IREC-Index. With this advanced multi-source wind energy index, Eoltech will aim to refine the monitoring of 24 wind farms in France, representing a total output of 500MW. IREC-Index will enable Eoltech’s clients to check the consistency of their fleet’s output against the available wind resource to detect potential turbine performance discrepancies.

Pacific Drilling Extends Utra-Deepwater Drillship Option

Pacific Drilling S.A. agrees with Samsung Heavy Industries to extend an option to construct an eighth ultra-deepwater drillship. The contractual option has been extended until January 18, 2013, on the same commercial terms, including delivery scheduled for the first quarter of 2015. Pacific Drilling says it is a fast growing company that is committed to becoming the industry’s preferred ultra-deepwater drilling contractor.

New Support Tool Aids BOP Retrieval

Retrieving an unreliable blowout preventer (BOP) is a necessary but expensive operation, often costing upwards of one or two million dollars or even double in developing ultra-deepwater regions, according to DNV GL, who adds BOP retrieval is also the main cause of downtime during drilling activity. DNV GL has therefore introduced a real-time, risk-informed BOP retrieval decision support tool BOP▪RDT…

Voyis Discovery Camera Integrated with Deep Trekker REVOLUTION ROV

Canadian underwater technology companies Voyis and Deep Trekker have joined forces to achieve an exceptional integration: the fusion of Voyis' cutting-edge Discovery camera with Deep Trekker's REVOLUTION ROV (Remote Operating Vehicle). the REVOLUTION ROV features a unique rotating head facilitating optimal positioning of attachments such as imaging sonar and grabbers, and it is capable of descending to depths of up to 305 meters.

ABB Power System for World’s Largest Diamond Recovery Vessel

The world's largest, and first custom-built, diamond recovery vessel, to be owned by Debmarine Namibia, will feature an advanced power system by the Swiss company ABB.The vessel is being built by Damen at Damen Shipyards Mangalia on the Black Sea in Romania. The newbuild will be delivered to Debmarine Namibia, a joint venture between the Government of the Republic of Namibia and De Beers Group in 2022.

NOAA to Award $28 Million to Tackle Marine Debris

The Department of Commerce and NOAA announced the availability of up to $28 million across two funding opportunities to address marine debris throughout the coastal U.S., Great Lakes, territories and Freely Associated States. These two Fiscal Year 2024 funding opportunities are part of NOAA’s Climate-Ready Coasts initiative under President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and allow NOAA to support impactful…

Ancient Amphora Discovered by OceanX Handed Over to Malta's Cultural Heritage Authorities

Global exploration nonprofit OceanX said this week it had delivered an ancient amphora to Maltese heritage authorities that was discovered by chance on the Mediterranean seafloor during a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) dive in the summer of 2022."This handover is an example of a non-governmental research entity executing the delivery of a discovered artifact through the appropriate channels according to rules laid out by UNESCO," OceanX said. A handover ceremony was held at Fort St.

Vice Adm. Badhwar Receives Alexander Dalrymple Award

The 2019 Alexander Dalrymple Award has been presented to Vice Admiral Vinay Badhwar, National Hydrographer to the Government of India, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Indian hydrography and across the wider Indian Ocean region.The Alexander Dalrymple Award was first awarded by the UKHO in 2006 and is named after the first Hydrographer of the Admiralty. Recipients of the award are…

Exail Opens New Office in Norway

Eying growth in the Scandinavian region, Exail announced the opening of a new business office in Norway. Located in the Oslo area, this new office is led by Lars Sorfang, who is acting as general manager for Exail AS, as well as regional sales manager for Scandinavia.A former officer for the Norwegian military, Sorfang previously held various business development positions at Kongsberg working on strategic defense programs…

Converted OSV Enters Service in the UK as an Underwater Surveillance Ship

A converted offshore support vessel has taken on a new life as a dedicated underwater surveillance ship for the U.K.'s Royal Navy.Christened during a ceremony in London on October 10, RFA Proteus will be operated by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary as a launchpad for remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROV) and a home to a suite of specialist capabilities similar to those found in the offshore oil and gas industry.The ship…

Greensea Hires Parrilla as Robotics Engineer

Greensea, creator of universal marine industry operating platform OPENSEA, has recently announced the appointment of Matthew Parrilla as Robotics Engineer. Parrilla will work in the Emerging Technologies group at Greensea, led by founder and CEO Ben Kinnaman. This group focuses on the next generation of supervised autonomy and navigation technologies behind Greensea's marine software. Prior to joining Greensea, Matthew was a lead developer of a customer facing application at Cox Automotive, Inc.

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.

Exail, Kongsberg Partner Up on Long Baseline (LBL) Subsea Positioning Solutions

Exail and Kongsberg Discovery said Tuesday they were collaborating in the field of Long Baseline (LBL) subsea positioning solutions. "Since June 2023, Kongsberg cPAP LBL transceiver and Exail Ramses LBL transceiver have achieved full compatibility, marking a significant milestone in the LBL positioning industry. This advancement empowers customers with enhanced capabilities to optimize underwater operations and achieve unparalleled precision in navigation…

New Partnership Strengthens US-Australia Subsea Tech Research

Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport and Flinders University of Adelaide, Australia, signed a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) on Oct. 25 to foster new technologies in support of AUKUS, the trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.The CRADA marks a significant step forward in advancing collaborative research between the U.S.

MTR100: OceanServer Technology

OceanServer Technology, Inc. is a manufacturer of man-portable Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs), with more than 250 AUVs deployed worldwide. The Iver3 AUV is an affordable, COTs vehicle used for general survey, subsurface security work, MCM applications and serves as a research platform for a variety of applications. The Iver3 AUV is a rugged, simple to operate AUV system that incorporates open…

Greensea’s New Ship Hull Crawler Tech Launches with VideoRay Defender ROV

Greensea introduces a new hull crawler that easily attaches a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) to a ship hull without magnetics, allowing the operator to “drive” the ROV and payloads over the hull. Initial hull crawlers are designed to work exclusively with the VideoRay Mission Specialist Defender ROV. The hull crawler represents a milestone in Greensea’s hull robotics program, which is advancing navigation…

NOAA Taps Woolpert for Chesapeake Bay Watershed Study

Woolpert announced it has been selected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) to perform hydrographic surveying and collect bathymetric data for hydrodynamic modeling in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. The $5.5 million award with a $1.4 million option, funded in part by the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, is being administered through NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey…

Exail Launches New Compact USBL Positioning System

Navigation, subsea positioning, and imaging solutions provider Exail has launched Gaps M3, a new compact and cost-effective subsea ultra-short baseline (USBL) acoustic positioning system for permanent vessel installation.Gaps M3 is a USBL positioning system with no embedded Inertial Navigation System (INS), making it a cost-effective choice for operators who can rely on existing onboard navigation systems.