Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri has selected marine technology firm Kongsberg Maritime's hydroacoustic systems package for a new polar research vessel. Construction of the RV Kronprins Haakon, which is the first Norwegian icebreaker built for polar research, is expected to start in June at Fincantieri's shipyard in Italy. For this project, Kongsberg will deliver its survey technology, which includes a wide range of Simrad scientific research technologies and an extensive K-Bridge system that will help the vessel meet complex navigation needs.

Market Research Report on Global and Chinese Subsea Cable Industry, 2010-2020 is a professional and in-depth market survey on Global and Chinese Subsea Cable industry. The report firstly reviews the basic information of Subsea Cable including its classification, application and manufacturing technology. The report then explores global and China's top manufacturers of Subsea Cable listing their product specification, capacity, Production value, and market share etc. The report further analyzes quantitatively 2010-2015 global and China's total market of Subsea Cable by calculation of main economic parameters of each company.

iSURVEY Pte Ltd, Singapore, has been awarded a contract from EMAS AMC for the provision of positioning and survey services on board its pipe lay vessel, the ‘Lewek Centurion’. The work is in support of Chevron’s 2015 pipeline installation campaign in the Gulf of Thailand. The project started in Q1 2015 and has an estimated duration of 120 days.

FMC Technologies announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Douglas J. Pferdehirt as President of the company. Pferdehirt assumes this responsibility from John T. Gremp who remains Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Doug has been integral to our company’s success and a valuable partner to me and the executive leadership team. In the three years he has been with FMC Technologies, our company has improved execution, expanded and enhanced customer relationships, established a platform for industry standardization, and entered into an industry-changing alliance with Technip," said John T. Gremp. "This appointment recognizes the performance, experience and leadership strength that Doug brings to our company."

Royal Dutch Shell’s return to oil drilling in the U.S. Arctic for the first time since 2012 took a big step forward on Monday when the Obama administration approved the company’s exploration plan. The Department of Interior conditionally approved Shell’s plan to explore for oil in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska. Shell has already spent about $6 billion on exploration in the Arctic. The Arctic is estimated to contain about 20 percent of the world’s undiscovered oil and natural gas, but its recovery could be decades away.

Technip has secured a contract with BP E&P for the design, engineering, fabrication, installation and pre-commissioning of the new production pipeline systems on the south side of the Thunder Horse production drilling quarters unit. At a water depth of approximately 1,900 meters, the current field development is located in Mississippi Canyon Blocks 778 and 822, in the ultra-deepwater Gulf of Mexico environment.

 

 

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For some 30 years SEALAB I has sat with little attention, now on the heels of its 50th anniversary, a group of volunteers has undertaken the task of restoring this historical vessel and re-commissioning it in the configuration as it served as America's first underwater house. Be part of the effort to help fund this project. Click the link below for more information and to donate to the cause.

Hydroid, Inc., a subsidiary of Kongsberg Maritime and the leading manufacturer of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), today announced its open enrollment training schedule for 2015. The schedule will feature five unique courses from June through October, and provide participants with operation, maintenance, troubleshooting and navigation skills for REMUS vehicles. All courses are led by Hydroid’s expert technicians, and will be held at the company’s new manufacturing facility, located at 3 Henry Drive in Pocasset, Mass.

You’ve heard that we know more about space than we do the deep ocean. But did you know it’s so unexplored that scientists discover new species just 200-500 feet down, sometimes at a rate of 14 an hour? A (sort of) manmade enemy threatens those efforts though, and they can’t kill, study, and eat it fast enough.

The hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has uncovered a previously uncharted shipwreck deep underwater, leading officials to say Wednesday that if the plane is in their search zone they will find it.

Deep Trekker announces they will be hosting a live demo at Aquaculture Nanaimo BC from May 31 to June 3, 2015. Individuals interested in learning more about the remotely operated vehicles find these demos to be of great assistance, as they can see the vehicle in action and what it's capable of doing. The mini rov demo highlights what makes this machine stand out from others on the market today and offers potential buyers the opportunity to see the vehicle up close and personal.

Robot contests have always been a popular way to attract students to engineering. So it’s no surprise that the IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society is using such competitions to interest students in the field. In particular, the society is asking students to design and build autonomous underwater vehicles.

The Port of Los Angeles is among the busiest in the world. For the cops who protect it, keeping an eye on the docks is challenging enough; diving its depths to search massive freighter hulls or look for wrecks involves a type of police work like no other.

Underwater drones have been used for everything from environmental research to scouring the ocean floor for wreckage of crashed airplanes. They are able to go where manned vessels historically have been unable to due to crushing depths and dangerous mission sets. Experts agree that the future of unmanned underwater vehicles is bright, with more investment expected from both the government and commercial sector. However, power generation continues to be a conundrum for engineers.

After being inspired by Star Trek’s Enterprise, Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed autonomous robots that will be able to work on their own underwater. The robots can not only perform tasks underwater, but also is capable of making high-level decisions to ensure successful execution of its missions.

With ship operators intensely focused on maximizing efficiency, keeping the hull clean is a major consideration as marine growth will most definitely lead to significant frictional drag and subsequently higher fuel bills. As documented by Dr. Michael Schultz, Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering at the United States Naval Academy, a heavily fouled hull can carry a ‘fuel penalty’ of up to 80%.

A remotely operated vehicle (ROV) device designed to measure friction between infrastructure and seabeds has opened the door for economical on-site testing. The ROV has flat, pipe and chain-shaped tools that mimic the shape of offshore infrastructure and measures friction by recording the force required to drag the device along the seabed. The drag force is measured using load cell transducers at either end of the device which pass signals up to a surface vessel to be recorded. The result enables resource companies with offshore operations to perform tests that better represent their infrastructure at the seabed.