James Ives News

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…

A third Nova Scotian company has secured a multimillion dollar contract with the Cape Sharp Tidal project, which has potential to be the first grid-connected tidal array in the world. Hawboldt Industries of Chester, Nova Scotia has been awarded a $4.7-million contract for the design and manufacturing of three heavy lift winches to be used on the OpenHydro deployment and recovery barge. Cape Sharp Tidal is a partnership between OpenHydro – a DCNS company – and Emera Inc. to develop a tidal industry in Nova Scotia. “We’re pleased to award another contract to a Nova Scotia company after a competitive tender,” said James Ives, OpenHydro Chief Executive.