Diving Support Vessel News

Norwegian offshore vessel operator DOF Subsea has won more work in Brazil with Petrobras.After a recent three-year contract secured for a pipelay support vessel duo co-owned with TechnipFMC, DOF Subsea said Thursday it had secured a contract extension with Petrobras for the diving support vessel Skandi Achiever.The extension will see the Skandi Achiever stay with Petrobras until the fourth quarter of 2022, providing ROV and diving services until the fourth quarter of 2022. DOF did not share the financial details.Built in 2007, the Skandi Achiever is 105.9 meters long and can accommodate 100 persons, and features an 18 men saturated diving system.The vessel has a 4.2 x 4.2-meter moonpool, and an ROV hangar of 137 square meters.TechnipFMC Says Vessel Contract with Petrobras 'Significant'

Two new dive support vessels (DSV) operated by Belov Engenharia Ltda. have completed class commissioning and are currently performing client acceptance testing for Petrobras.Built at Belov's own fabrication facility in Salvador, the newbuilds Belov Amaralina and Belov Humaitá are of Robert Allan Ltd.'s RAlly 4000’s Class design, fitted with Dynamic Positioning System (DP2), four diesel generators, three water jet propulsors and triple bow thrusters for redundancy. The propulsion system is diesel-electric to improve efficiency when operating in lower power DP modes.

Damen Shiprepair Amsterdam has finished repair work on the 156m Diving Support Vessel (DSV) Deep Arctic. The shipyard reports that it was a complex project with a total of 2198 work permits issued, an indication of the large number of individual jobs that were completed and the number of stakeholders involved. The TechnipFMC-owned Deep Arctic came to Damen Shiprepair Amsterdam (DSAm) primarily for a main class renewal (intermediate) docking and for maintenance including the renewal of the steel plates to its box coolers.

Partners DNV GL, Kongsberg Maritime and Subsea 7 have concluded the pilot testing of Kongsberg Maritime’s (KM) DP Digital Survey (KMDS) application on board the Subsea 7 vessel Seven Kestrel.The pilot tested the use of a remote digital verification tool for testing dynamic positioning (DP) systems as part of classification society DNV GL’s D-Class project.In March 2019,  DNV GL rolled out the first fleet-wide remote survey scheme for some inspections in the classification industry.

Subsea services company Aqueos Corporation said it has entered into a multi-year agreement with vessel owner Otto Candies for the charter of the US-built multi-role DP-2 diving support vessel (DSV) Kelly Ann Candies.The high spec vessel has a built-in 14-man Draeger saturation diving system complete with three-man bell, moon-pool bell launch with cursor, self propelled hyperbaric lifeboat (SPHL), 60-ton crane and berthing for 76 persons. The vessel has a Canyon Offshore work class remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) with an in-built…

TechnipFMC announced Monday it has acquired a newbuild diving support vessel (DSV) Deep Discoverer. The vessel will primarily service the North Sea diving construction and inspection, repair and maintenance (IRM) markets.The company signed a deal with VARD shipyard in Norway to purchase the vessel in late 2018. The vessel is currently undergoing an operational readiness program and will begin work in the first half of 2019.Deep Discoverer has DP3 capabilities, as well as an 18-person twin bell saturation diving system…

Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. (Boskalis) announced Tuesday it has signed a multi-year subsea services agreement for an unnamed customer in the Middle East. The base value of the three-year contract amounts to $40 million with an option to extend.Under the terms of the contract commencing, The Dutch company said it will carry out a broad spectrum of subsea inspection, repair and maintenance (IRM) services, including integrity assessments for offshore platforms and tripods, wellhead jacket inspections…

With a renewed wave of offshore industry investment in Brazil, there is a growing demand again for specialized vessels on the horizon. Underwater service providers play a major role in maintaining offshore assets, especially in deep water, by  performing diving operations and ROV surveys (Remotely Operated Vehicles). In the plethora of Brazilian operators, a company stands out from the crowd, having performed work for the Brazilian state-run oil company Petrobras for several years: Belov Engenharia Ltda.Understanding this new demand…

Bibby Offshore won a two-phase multimillion dollar contract with a leading oil and gas and production company. The contract, awarded in April, will see Bibby Offshore carry out IRM services across a number of the operators North Sea assets. Engineering work for this project has started, with the initial offshore phase due to commence in Q2 this year and a further campaign scheduled for Q3. Bibby Offshore’s multi-role diving support vessel, Bibby Topaz, will be the primary vessel utilised to carry out the base workscope…

As the severity of the offshore energy downturn has increased and the likelihood of older vessels returning to work begins to diminish, owners have slowly come round to the importance of scrapping these vessels. According to VesselsValue, U.S. owners might be leading the way.According to VesselsValue, an online valuation and market intelligence service for the maritime and offshore sectors, in this current period of downturn, critics of offshore shipowners will say that owners have been guilty of not scrapping older tonnage in order to maintain a young and advanced fleet.

The cost of renting offshore supply vessels (OSVs), servicing oil and gas firms, will continue to rise as many ships that were mothballed up during the downturn will not return to the market, the chief executive of Norway's DOF said on Wednesday. A number of offshore vessel companies went bankrupt after oil prices plunged between 2014 and 2016, or were forced to merge with competitors to survive as oil companies cut spending for exploration and new developments. But the rates for hiring specialized vessels, which include platform supply (PSV), diving support (DSV) and anchor-handling vessels (AHTS), have increased in the last year. While the North Sea has been leading the increase in demand for OSVs…

Subsea services provider Aqueos Corporation said it has been awarded a major contract for a large pipeline installation project located in the Gulf of Mexico. Aqueos said the contract, which commenced in December 2017 and will be completed in the first half of 2018, will support shallow-water pipeline installations in water depths up to 100 feet. The work scope will utilize the Aqueos diving support vessel (DSV) SPLASH, with surface dive teams utilizing its jet propulsion and built in NITROX diving system. The project will be supported by Aqueos’ project management team based in Broussard, La.

Caribbean shipyard Grand Bahama Shipyard (GBS) said it has completed work on 30 commercial vessels within first half of 2017, predominantly comprised of companies returning to the yard with repeat business including tankers, bulk carriers, containerships, tugs, dive support vessels and drilling support vessels. In what is considered a volatile market, GBS said 2017 has been a great year for repeat customers, solidifying its position as a supporter of the major U.S. East Coast…

Singapore's Offshore support vessel (OSV)-focused Pacific Radiance said that it has won US$45.3 million of new contracts including options, which will add to its operating cash flow. Under these contracts, ten of the Group’s offshore support vessels, including a diving support vessel, are being deployed to support projects in Asia and the Middle East. They are chartered to new and existing clients to provide services which include towing, repair and maintenance, transportation and platform support. Pang Yoke Min, the Executive Chairman of Pacific Radiance, said: “These latest contract wins will improve the Group’s vessel utilisation and underscore our efforts to build a sustainable long term business.

The Peruvian Navy has recently taken delivery of a well-equipped dive support vessel (DSV) from the shipyard Servicios Industriales de la Marina S.A. (SIMA). Designed in-house by the shipyard, the new 4400 HP vessel has significant towing capabilities and can act as a salvage tug. The 32 by 12-meter vessel has a molded depth of 4.5 meters on a finely-shaped, double chined hull. A four point anchoring system as well as a launch and recovery system for deploying an open diving bell are among the effective salvage and dive-support deck equipmet.

Offshore engineering, construction and services company Subsea 7 said it has taken delivery two new builds: a heavy construction flex-lay vessel Seven Arctic and dive support vessel Seven Kestrel, completing its substantial fleet investment program that has added six newly constructed vessels to its fleet since 2014. Designed to meet the demands of deep water and harsh environments, including both tropical and winter conditions, Lloyd's Register classed Seven Arctic is capable of working at depths of 3…

Just over the horizon, a new ‘Integration Strategy’ promises offshore safety and efficiencies. Kongsberg’s Walk-to-Work technology is just the beginning. Maritime technology has come on in leaps and bounds since the turn of the century. We have the technology to keep an offshore support vessel on station within a 0.5-meter radius, even in the most severe weather conditions and sea states. We have the technology to manage power output, and control drives and thrusters to the ‘nth’ degree, providing safety and reliability for all ship handling operations. And we have the technology to deliver gigabytes of data to shore without paying for a helicopter or a mid-ocean drop off of hard drives or DVDs. So, what’s next? Arguably, the ‘big’ topic is unmanned vessels.

Technip’s latest newbuild, the diving support vessel (DSV) Deep Explorer, was officially named on Saturday, November 12, in Norway. The traditional naming ceremony was held at VARD’s Langsten shipyard. The vessel godmother was Heidi Brovoll-Bø, wife of Knut Bø, President of Technip’s North Sea Canada region. The vessel hull was built by Vard Tulcea shipyard in Romania, and then towed to Vard Langsten in Norway for equipment outfitting and commissioning. The vessel features a state-of-the-art 24-man twin bell saturated dive system rated to 350m.

The Tunisian government has taken delivery of a new training ship, Zarzis A710, which will support diving and security works in air and sea areas of the Mediterranean. The vessel was built by Vittoria Shipyard SpA and commissioned by the Tunisian Defense Ministry as part of the Tunisian-Italian cooperation agreement signed in spring 2015. The Diving Support Vessel will be deployed by the Tunisian authorities as part of the stabilization and pacification operation in North Africa and the Mediterranean area.

Bibby Offshore, a subsea services provider to the oil and gas industry, says it has secured a 15-day project with BP, due to commence in August 2016. The contract will see diving support vessel Bibby Topaz, working on four BP operations across three of its North Sea assets. The platforms involved include Central North Sea-based asset Bruce, east of Shetland-based Magnus, and the Mirren field, which is part of the Eastern Trough Area Project (ETAP), one of the largest and most complex North Sea oil and gas developments of the past 20 years. The project, managed by the Bibby Offshore team, involves the supply of air and saturation diving support to perform operations including spool and flowline disconnection…

Bibby Offshore, a leading subsea services provider to the oil and gas industry, has announced a multimillion dollar contract with a global energy player, to provide first gas and construction support on its assets in the Southern North Sea. The contract, due to be executed between Q3 and Q4 2016, will see Bibby Offshore’s construction support vessel Olympic Ares, and its diving support vessel Bibby Polaris, perform subsea engineering work 150km off the coast of Lincolnshire, in water depths of 21m and 48m. The workscope, which includes precommissioning and commissioning support, involves Bibby Offshore carrying out a range of construction services comprising valve operations…

Wärtsilä has signed a contract with Shanghai Bestway Marine Engineering Design Co Ltd to design a new type of deepwater dive support vessel (DSV). The ship is to be built for China state-owned Shanghai Salvage Bureau (SSB), a professional salvage company in China. The contract with Wärtsilä was signed in January. The Wärtsilä design features a combination of capabilities, including deepwater (6,000 meters) salvage operations, deepwater pipe laying and construction work, and saturation (SAT) diving operations for 24 divers using two diving bells. SAT diving is a technique that allows divers to reduce the risk of decompression sickness when working at great depths for extended periods of time. All the design features are based on a single platform operating with DP3.

On 23 November 2015, Nakilat Damen Shipyards Qatar celebrated its first 5 years of operation. With 40 vessels delivered or under construction, the yard has proven its capability to support Qatar’s national strategy for economic diversification. Damen Chief Commercial Officer Arnout Damen. NDSQ was established in 2010 as a joint venture between Qatar Gas Transport Company Ltd. (Nakilat) and Damen Shipyards Group. Located in the northeastern corner of Qatar, the yard is ideally positioned in the middle of the Arabian Gulf and able to build ships up to 170 metres in length in steel, aluminium and composites. By building these vessels in Qatar, Mr Damen says that NDSQ is supporting the economic diversification and development strategy in the Qatar National Vision 2030.