Offshore Survey News

Glasgow-headquartered subsea specialist Sulmara has signed a three-year deal with Atlantic Offshore to charter the DP II multi-purpose support vessel Ocean Marlin, that will undergo substantial refitting to accommodate the needs of renewable energy sector.As part of the contract, Sulmara, who earlier in February announced the signing of a Master Service Agreement with Asso.subsea, will undertake a substantial refit of the emergency response rescue vessel (ERRV) to transform it for use in the renewables sector.The refit will include the installation of class-leading survey equipment…

Dutch offshore survey firm Fugro has reached an agreement to acquire two platform supply vessels (PSVs), Sea Goldcrest and Sea Gull, which will be converted to geotechnical vessels to address the needs of growing offshore wind sector.The addition of the Sea Goldcrest and Sea Gull, built in 2019 and 2020 respectively, to its owned fleet will further strengthen Fugro’s ability to address the market demands and shortage in geotechnical capable vessels, the company said.With the purchase of these strategic assets Fugro will operate a balanced fleet of owned and chartered vessels…

The November edition of Marine News magazine highlighted a selection of the most notable American newbuilds delivered of 2023—from a first-of-its-kind green towboat, to the lead vessel in a series of game-changing ships to train U.S. mariners.Empire StateAs the lead vessel in a series of five new training ships being constructed to serve America's state maritime academies, Empire State is easily one of the most important U.S.-built vessels delivered in recent memory.Built by Philly Shipyard for the U.S.

Realizing the full value of digital solutions far exceeds the capability of technology. The technology exists today to help offshore energy and maritime operators radically improve efficiency and cut costs in equal measure. The real trick to driving efficiencies is to take advantage of the latest technologies while at the same time negotiating the necessary culture change within individual organizations, to really reap the benefits.Harvest Technology Group is a relatively young and small Australian company that has caught the attention of a number of offshore and subsea industry heavyweights…

Subsea services company DeepOcean and the Norwegian oil and gas company Aker BP have agreed to "pioneer" the use of an unmanned surface vessel (USV) for subsea inspection, maintenance, and repair (IMR) and survey work.The first USV is planned to be ready for offshore operations from 2025, when it will go on an eight-year charter agreement with DeepOcean from specialist provider USV AS."Aker BP and DeepOcean already cooperate under a frame agreement for subsea IMR and survey work, and Aker BP has contributed to the development of the USV.

Dutch offshore survey firm Fugro will convert the Fugro Resilience and the Topaz Endurance, two ULSTEIN PX121 platform supply vessels (PSVs), to geotechnical vessels, targeting their deployment in the global offshore renewable energy market.Fugro acquired the two platform supply vessels, the Topaz Endurance and the Topaz Energy (renamed Fugro Resilience), in February 2023.Ulstein Design & Solutions AS is responsible for the redesign of the two vessels, and on September 22, 2023, Fugro awarded Ulstein Verft a contract to convert the Fugro Resilience. Both vessels were built in 2015.

TDI-Brooks announced it has broken ground on a new 16,000 square foot technical building at its headquarters in College Station, Texas, north of of Houston.The building is designed with 5,000 square feet of new office space along with technical work spaces, fabrication shops and storage areas. TDI-technical staff plan to move into the building by the end of the year.“This new location will not only allow for the growth of staff we’ve employed to keep up with the growing demand for our technical services in offshore wind…

Belgium-based offshore survey services provider GEOxyz announced it has opened its first office in the United States, located in New Brunswick, N.J., as it expands to serve the offshore wind energy industry on the U.S. East Coast"The renewable energy industry in the U.S. is an important market in full expansion and we are thrilled to establish a presence here," said Patrick Reyntjens, CEO of GEOxyz. "We have extensive experience in offshore surveying and we are eager to provide…

Bellingham, Wash. shipbuilder All American Marine (AAM) announced it has delivered a new research and hydrographic survey vessel for NV5-Geodynamics. The vessel was sea-trialed on Bellingham Bay, prior to shipping via cargo ship to its homeport of Beaufort, N.C.Built to service the growing offshore wind market as well as accomplish many other scientific survey missions, Shackleford is a 73- by 26.7-foot semi-displacement aluminum catamaran developed by Nic de Waal of Teknicraft Design in Auckland, New Zealand.

Norwegian offshore energy industry services firm Ross Offshore has agreed to charter Teige Gruppen's Sunny Lady fishing vessel for future offshore activities.The initial agreement is for the charter for the summer of 2023, but the parties envision long-term cooperation, too.Ross Offshore will use the vessel for seabed surveys. The vessel will be equipped with an observation ROV and be able to perform mapping- and environmental surveys."The first project starts in May, and we anticipate a large demand going forward…

A specialist ship purchased by the U.K. Royal Navy to support mine-hunting operations has arrived in Plymouth.When deployed, the vessel will be based at Naval Base Clyde and used as a mother ship tp support the safeguarding of U.K. waters from the threat of mines at sea, operating a range of uncrewed systems that will help keep personnel at a safe distance under Project Wilton.Purchased from Norway's Island Offshore, the the 96.8-meter-long vessel – currently named Island Crown…

Rovco, a UK-based subsea robotics and survey firm, has signed a three-year charter with Glomar Offshoreof the multipurpose support vessel, Glomar Supporter.The company said the charter was part of its growth strategy within its site characterizing business unit, and market a significant expansion of the company’s offshore hydrographic, geophysical, and shallow geotechnical survey capabilities."Responding to high client demand amid a rapidly growing offshore wind market, Rovco…

Dutch offshore survey company Fugro has expanded its geotechnical vessel fleet with the Fugro Quest vessel. According to Fugro, the vessel is equipped with advanced deep-water technology."Fugro uses this type of vessel to determine the exact composition of the soil; the resulting data are essential to establish the optimal location and design of offshore developments, such as wind farms," Fugro explained.The Dutch company also says that the vessel provides increased personnel and operational safety…

Community Offshore Wind, a U.S. joint venture between RWE Renewables and National Grid, has awarded Fugro an offshore survey contract to support site appraisal and concept design activities in the New York Bight. The joint venture was last year succesful in a joint bid in the New York Bight offshore lease auction which it secured area OCS-A 0539 with a winning bid of $1.1 billion. The awarded seabed has the potential to host 3 gigawatts (GW) of capacity, enough to power 1.1 million U.S. homes.

Dutch offshore survey services firm Fugro has secured a contract with the Danish grid operator Energinet for geotechnical site investigations for the North Sea I offshore wind development.The Danish government plans to expand offshore wind capacity by 4GW by 2030, and the geodata acquired by Fugro will be used to inform future bids in the area. "This award follows Fugro’s success working on the North Sea Energy Islands project for Energinet throughout 2022, a project that is the first of its kind…

Dutch marine services firm Van Oord has, via its offshore wind subsidiary Van Oord Offshore Wind,  awarded Eidesvik Offshore a five-year contract for its Subsea Viking multi-purpose support vessel.The contract, of an undisclosed value, will start in the first quarter of 2023, Norway-based offshore vessel owner Eidesvik Offshore said. Van Oord will also have further extension options and, "on certain" terms, a call option for the vessel after the firm period. The contract comes…

ROV services firm Rovco has chartered the VOS Star vessel from owners to support the delivery of its offshore wind farm projects. The 68m long DP2 multi-purpose support vessel will support Rovco’s increasing number of secured offshore wind campaigns throughout 2022, including the provision of hydrographic survey solutions on operational offshore wind farms in UK and Dutch waters.On the vessel, Rovco will mobilize a dedicated and experienced offshore team, to operate its Seaeye Leopard Work Class ROV systems…

Rovco, an offshore subsea and survey solutions provider, has chartered Glomar Offshore's Glomar Worker dynamic positioning (DP) vessel.The 60m long DP2 multi-purpose offshore support vessel will be put to work on the company’s growing number of secured subsea survey campaigns for major operational windfarms across UK waters.The Glomar Worker was built in 2008 with an extensive rebuild in 2020, providing accommodation for up to 44 personnel.The purpose-built vessel provides a combined deck space of 497m2…

Norwegian seismic company PGS said Thursday it had secured solid industry pre-funding for a large MultiClient survey on the Northwest shelf of the Norwegian Sea. The Ramform Atlas vessel is currently mobilizing for the survey, with scheduled acquisition starting around May 10.President & CEO in PGS, Rune Olav Pedersen said:"This is the first large-scale MultiClient survey we are acquiring offshore Norway since 2020, as we experience increasing demand for high-fidelity MultiClient data from renewed exploration interest among our clients.

All American Marine (AAM) won a contract to build a research and hydrographic survey vessel for Geodynamics, an NV5 company. R/V Shackleford is a 73 x 26.7-ft. semi-displacement aluminum catamaran hull that was developed by Nic de Waal of Teknicraft Design in Auckland, New Zealand. The vessel will have the fundamental, and primary design elements of the Duke University Marine Lab’s R/V Shearwater and Blue Tide Puerto Rico’s R/V Blue Manta that were both recently commissioned.R/V Shackleford is named after the southernmost barrier island in the Cape Lookout National Seashore chain…

Norway-based subsea services company Reach Subsea is set to close the acquisition of the offshore survey company iSurvey, first announced in mid-February.As previously reported, Reach Subsea said on February 17 it had agreed to buy the offshore survey services firm iSurvey in a transaction valued NOK 135 million. Separately, it was announced that Wilhelmsen had acquired a 21% stake in Reach Subsea.The company at the time said that the transaction would be settled through the issuance of 33.8 million shares in Reach…

Dutch offshore survey specialist Fugro has secured a contract with RWE to carry out geophysical exploratory works at Five Estuaries offshore wind farm, the extension project of the existing 353MW Galloper wind farm.Works are expected to take place in the Southern North Sea from August to November 2021.Three dedicated vessels will map the characteristics of the seabed and bedrock to assess the conditions around the wind farm site and the potential cable locations. The seafloor…

While the adoption of unmanned/uncrewed surfaces vessels (USVs) was initially in defence, use of these low footprint systems has spread into other sectors, not least survey, and now the race is on for greater capability, endurance and autonomy. Elaine Maslin reports.After starting small, in inland waterways, use of USVs for survey operations has moved into coastal and now offshore waters. Given the extensive amount of seabed and rapid growth in offshore wind, there’s plenty of work out there for them to do.With the travel restrictions posed by Covid and increasing awareness of climate change…