Underwater Technologies News

The UK Royal Navy has awarded a £15.4 million (currently around $18,8 million) contract for a crewless submarine to the Plymouth-based company MSubs. The submarine is expected to be delivered to the Navy in two years. The Navy expects the submarine to further advance the UK’s ability to protect our critical national infrastructure and monitor sub-sea activity."Project Cetus – named after a mythological sea monster – enhances the Royal Navy’s experimentation with autonomous underwater systems.

Marine electronics company Furuno USA announced it recently hired Andrew Stradling as technical applications manager.Based in Seattle, Stradling will work alongside longtime Furuno USA representatives Alan Terry and Jon Closson for the overall promotion and sales of Furuno commercial fishery solutions in the Americas. In addition to managing Furuno’s specialty hydroacoustics product line, Stradling will contribute to the training of Furuno personnel, Furuno USA dealer personnel, and customers alike.

Antwerp Port Authority has supported Hydrex Underwater Technologies’ plan to expand its existing 5000m² site on Asiadok on the River Scheldt with new workshops and offices. As part of its expansion, the result of organic growth over the past two years, Hydrex has also refurbished its dive support workboats and increased its manpower by 25 percent to strengthen its diver-technician capability. Hydrex Chairman Boud Van Rompay said, “The new facility together with our recent recruitment drive is consequent of market demand for swift and cost-effective underwater hull and running gear care.

Team ENSTA Bretagne from France won the 11th edition SAUC-E competition, the Student Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Challenge - Europe. The 2nd prize went to the Tom Kyle team, from the University of Applied Sciences of Kiel (Germany). The UNIFI team with the robot Marta from the University of Florence was awarded the 3rd prize. The other prizes were awarded to: the AUGA team, from the University of Vigo with ACSM, that won the “Collaborator Award”; the ROBOTUIC team, from International University of Canarias, that won the “Rookie of the Year Award”; the ENSTA Bretagne team 2, from France, that won the “Tenacity Award”; the UnivPM team…

The first tourist submarine in Turkey is waiting to be sent on a voyage that will reveal the wonders of the undersea world of the Mediterranea. The first submarine tours are planned in April and no doubt they will be interesting and unforgettable for tourists and locals. The submarine called Nemo (weighing 106 tons) which has capacity to carry 48 people with 20 meters length and 6,5 meters height, will be hosting visitors for a touristic trip in the southern province of Antalya as of April. It was imported by IHS Travel and Tourisfly and will meet with visitors after a remarkable opening ceremony in April. The submarine is the result of a project by the Bodrum-based Underwater Technologies Research Institute (SUTA).

Kongsberg Maritime has delivered a complete new CCTV system to the U.S. Coast Guard for its heavy icebreaker vessel Polar Star (WAGB-10). The delivery follows a CCTV System upgrade on Polar Star’s sister vessel, the USCGC Healy Polar Ice Breaker, in 2013. The USCGC Polar Star is one of the largest ships in the U.S. Coast Guard and one of the world’s most powerful nonnuclear ships. It was commissioned in 1976 but in 2006 went into caretaker status when the crew was reduced and the ship kept ready for a return to ice.

Novacavi reported a second supply of marine cables used in the Costa Concordia shipwrecking salvage operation off the shore of the island of Giglio, Italy. As the first delivery successfully performed during the parbuckling phase, Novacavi was called in again to provide high tech custom tailored cables for the positioning and survey systems in use in the progressing operation of Concordia wreck removal. Individually designed, tested and manufactured to be suitable for their specific application, these customized marine cables further broadened Aquancable, the wide range of specialist bespoke cables for maritime and underwater technologies made by Novacavi. novacavi.it

Novacavi launched Aquancable, a range of specialist cables for maritime and underwater technologies. These include ROV cables, Fiber Optic hybrid cables, umbilicals, subsea armored cables, subsea detection and instrumentation cables to be suitable in any harsh environment conditions while guaranteeing the requested performance. According to the manufacturer, each product is individually designed, tested and manufactured to be suitable for its specific application, but - as all of Novacavi’s cable- it can be adapted as necessary to meet other special requirements. novacavi.it

The Coast Guard, along with other federal, tribal, state and local agencies, is conducting a full-scale, anti-terrorism and oil spill response exercise in the Port of Duluth-Superior Aug. 28-29, 2013. In addition to Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Duluth, participants in Operation Peeking Duck will include maritime industry representatives from the states of Minnesota and Wisconsin, oil spill response agencies, as well as representatives from fire, emergency management and local law enforcement agencies.

With the appointment of Eric Levitt as Director of Sales and Marketing (US), Kongsberg Defense and Aerospace, Naval Systems has opened a business development office in the U.S. KDA Naval Systems core products include the C-Scope range of Harbor and Port Protection Systems, Topas Parametric Sub-Bottom profilers, the C’Inspector Underwater Vehicle for Hull and Berth Scanning and a variety of Integrated Combat Management Systems for Frigates, MCM vessels and Submarines. Levitt brings five years of experience in Harbor and Port Protection systems from recent positions with Kongsberg Underwater Technologies and Kongsberg Mesotech, manufacturer of the popular SM2000 Diver Detection Sonar in use by the U.S. Navy.