NOAA Releases 2018 Hydrographic Survey Plans

Beginning in April, NOAA’s four hydrographic survey ships – Thomas Jefferson, Ferdinand Hassler, Rainier and Fairweather – will set out along with private contractors to tackle their assigned survey projects over the course of the 2018 field season. North Coast of Kodiak Island – Last surveyed in 1932, this survey project focuses on areas inadequate for safe navigation, particularly along the corridor of vessel traffic transiting from Kodiak.

Rim-driven ROV Thruster

Due to its simplicity, the rim driven thruster has for years been seen as the ideal thruster concept, but it has proved to be difficult to implement. Several attempts of implementing the rim driven thruster concept has failed over the years, but due to technological advances in materials science and production techniques, Copenhagen Subsea A/S reports that it has succeeded in implementing the concept resulting in an ultra-reliable thruster with unique features.

Construction Begins on UK’s Next Submarines

BAE Systems welcomed the Right Honorable Sir Michael Fallon MP, Secretary of State for Defense to Barrow-in-Furness shipyard to press a button, commencing the first metal-cut for the Successor program. The secretary of State's visit follows a recent U.K. Government commitment of £1.3 billion funding for the Successor Submarine program on October 1. This program will deliver four new submarines for the Royal Navy and will replace the current Vanguard class…

Teledyne TSS Launches AHRS, INS Systems

Following a two-year development program, Teledyne TSS is previewing a complete new family of advanced AHRS and INS (Inertial Navigation and Attitude and Heading Reference Systems) named Saturn at the Oceanology exhibition in London starting March 11. The Saturn family is based upon fiber-optic technology developed and manufactured by Teledyne TSS. The family also incorporates advanced digital signal…

WOC Co-organizing International Workshop

WOC Co-organizing International Workshop on The World Ocean Council (WOC) and Canada’s Marine Environmental Observation Prediction and Response (MEOPAR) Network are co-organizing an international workshop to advance ocean industry data collecting and sharing. The event will set the stage for an initial Canadian Atlantic pilot project on ocean observations by industry, in support of Canada’s commitment to trans-Atlantic research under the “Galway Statement on Atlantic Ocean Cooperation…

Log-In Logística selects COMPAC

The containership segment’s commitment to ocean sustainability has been underscored with another order for Thordon Bearings’ COMPAC water lubricated propeller shaft bearing concept. The decision by Brazil-based cabotage carrier Log-In Logística to select the Thordon solution for a 2700TEU newbuild Log-In Polaris, is indicative of a trend in the sector for mitigating against the risk of oil pollution by adopting the simpler, environmentally-safer water-lubricated propel shaft concept.

Makai Offers Advanced Course for Cable Lay Operators

Makai Ocean Engineering is now offering an advanced cable laying course for operators who have managed real cable installations at-sea using MakaiLay. In addition to filling any knowledge gaps that operators might have in basic lay operations, this MakaiLay Level-II training course focuses on more advanced scenarios that might arise at-sea. This course produces graduates who are better equipped to install subsea cable accurately…

Real-time Mapping, Visualization in CARIS Onboard 2.0

Teledyne CARIS has announced the release of CARIS Onboard 2.0. CARIS Onboard enables users to apply processes automatically to their data in near real-time, resulting in minimized data conversion and processing times. By making the processed products available at the office or on a survey vessel during survey operations, CARIS Onboard helps improve survey efficiency by valuably reducing the turn-around…

The Crowley Way

Walk in the front door at Crowley Maritime Corporation HQ in Jacksonville, Fla., and you learn nearly everything you need to know about the company. With your visitor’s badge, you are handed a “Safety and Evacuation” brochure, and the person you are there to meet – in our case Tom Crowley, Jr. – walks down to greet you personally. Safety and People; The Crowley Way. The rest is just details. Crowley Maritime was founded in 1892 by Thomas Crowley in San Francisco.

New Aerial Mapping Drone Launched

The NEXUS 800 UAV is a unique and cutting-edge mapping solution unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by HYPACK, Infinite Jib, SBG Systems and Velodyne. The NEXUS 800 powered by HYPACK is a full end-to-end solution that represents a new paradigm in UAV data collection by seamlessly harmonizing LiDAR data with photogrammetry. The NEXUS 800 is an out of the box turnkey system that tightly integrates hardware and software to provide an advanced and seamless solution for LiDAR survey planning…

HYPACK Automatic Download of ENC Charts

The new HYPACK feature allows U.S.-based users to quickly obtain the most recent charts provided by NOAA and the USACE at no additional charge. U.S.-based users who have an Internet connection will be able to download the charts from the USACE and NOAA web-map servers with the click of a button. Both agencies have made their charts available for download, and HYPACK has made it easy to ensure users have the latest chart data.

Subsea Camera Integrated with ROV

For the first time, Battelle’s HorizonVue undersea camera was integrated with a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) as part of a demo in the Quincy Shipyard, home of Battelle’s Bluefin Robotics. The new camera allowed operators to see the harbor floor, a nearby hull and navigate through submerged pilings using a 360-degree live video feed. The instrument can operate at the ocean’s surface or down to depths of 4,500 meters, withstanding pressure of 6,575 pounds per square inch.

BP Selects McDermott, BHGE for Subsea Contracts

McDermott International and Baker Hughes (BHGE), a GE company  announced the selection of front-end engineering design (FEED) studies in advance of a substantial engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) contract for BP’s Tortue/Ahmeyim Field Development, a major gas project located on the maritime border of Mauritania and Senegal. During this initial engineering phase, McDermott will work on defining the subsea umbilicals…

Optech’s Dr. Park to Present at OCEANS’14

Optech, a company that develops, manufactures and supports high-accuracy lidar 3D survey systems and productivity-enhancing workflow software, announced that Software Development Manager Dr. Joong Yong Park will present a paper at the OCEANS’14 conference in Taipei, Taiwan, April 7-10 by the Marine Technology Society (MTS) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). Agencies and…

L3 OceanServer Unveils Iver PW AUV

L3 OceanServer announced its new Iver Precision Workhorse (Iver PW) autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). The new Iver PW is the first in a family of highly capable commercial AUVs to address a wide variety of customer missions, including survey research and mapping, sub-surface security, and environmental monitoring. “Undersea missions are evolving, and L3 is uniquely positioned to develop military and commercial solutions using next-generation processing…

New Survey Catamaran for Indian Navy

The Indian navy is operating a stable research platform built around a steel-hulled catamaran. The 53.15 by 16-meter (174.4 X 52.5-foot) INS Makar has a molded depth of 4.5 meters (15 feet). Designed by the Australian naval architecture firm Sea Transport Solutions, the INS Makar, first in a series of up to six vessels, was delivered from the Alcock Ashdown (Gujarat) Ltd form from its Bhavnagar shipyard.

Education and Training the Theme for World Maritime Day

International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretary-General Koji Sekimizu has launched this year’s World Maritime Day theme, “Maritime education and training”, telling students and staff at the World Maritime University (WMU) that maritime education and training was essential for the long-term sustainability of the sector, both at sea and on-shore. The World Maritime Day theme provides a focus for…

Statoil Farms Down in Angolan Pre-salt

Statoil has signed an agreement to farm down a 15% interest to WRG Angola Block 39 Limited in the Statoil-operated block 39 offshore Angola in the Kwanza pre-salt basin. WRG is a 50/50 joint venture comprising White Rose Energy Ventures and Genel Energy plc. “This is part of Statoil's active portfolio management. The farm-down reflects the attractiveness of Statoil’s acreage in Angola and having WRG onboard allows us to share exploration risk, while retaining a significant working interest.

CGG Begins Deepwater Survey Offshore Brazil

CGG said it has commenced acquisition of a large broadband 3D multi-client survey in the pre-salt area of the deepwater Santos Basin. Santos VIII is the most recent survey in CGG’s vast ongoing pre-salt program that delivers ultramodern seismic data, enabling exploration companies to better evaluate pre-salt opportunities in advance of Brazil’s pre-salt licensing rounds. Santos VIII covers an area of over 8,000 km2 adjacent to the Peroba, Pau Brasil and Boumerangue fields.

EuroROV Selects ROV Supplier for Training School

Spanish ROV training and engineering company EuroROV has taken delivery of a Forum Sub-Atlantic Mojave vehicle for its newly-launched ROV pilot training facility. The electric ROV, which was manufactured by Sub-Atlantic’s parent company Forum, is one of the most powerful observation vehicles of its size. Its compact, ergonomic design and lightweight construction allows rapid set up and deployment using any domestic power supply.