Fort William News

A fire broke out earlier this week on a fast rescue craft aboard the Siem Diamond offshore support vessel in the Atlantic Ocean, east of St. John's Canada.According to the C-NLOPB, the offshore oil and gas safety body for the Newfoundland and Labrador area, oil firm Equinor informed the regulator that the incident had struck on Wednesday morning, September 16, 2020.The Siem Diamond was, at the time of the incident, on standby for the Transocean Barents semi-submersible drilling rig."All personnel safely mustered, there were no injuries and all personnel were accounted for. The fire team was able to quickly extinguish the fire, however, the FRC received extensive damage and was deemed unavailable.

Subsea Tooling Services (STS)’s new subsea dredging system has ‘exceeded all expectations’ in trails at The Underwater Centre’s Loch Linnhe site at Fort William – moving around one tonne of rocks per minute. The Predator Subsea Dredger, a new concept in the world market, has exceeded all expectations in terms of efficiency and performance having moved nine tonnes of 50-60mm rocks on the seabed in between eight and nine minutes in its trials. The Predator Subsea Dredger, a new concept in the world market, underwent a number of trials while fitted to the Triton XL26 work class ROV used for training and trials at The Underwater Centre’s Loch Linnhe site in Fort William.

A 2,600-tonne cargo ship has run aground while docking close to berth at Corpach on Loch Linnhe at Fort William on the west coast of Scotland in windy conditions. Stornoway Coastguard said the alarm was raised this morning when the 91-metre ship Fri Sea went aground at high water at Corpach. Seven crew members remain on board the ship and there are no signs of any injuries, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said. The Secretary Of State’s Representative for Maritime Salvage and Intervention is aware and is monitoring the situation, said the spokeswoman of MCA. It looks as if the strong winds that were blowing may have caught her when she was almost stopped in the water. The coastguard said it was likely an attempt to refloat the vessel would be made at high water on Sunday.

September 23 -24, 2013, the Canadian Ferry Operators Association will be hosting its 2013 AGM and Conference in St. John’s, NL. Industry experts from across Canada will present on their strategies to enhance customer relations throughout the two-day conference, which will provide an opportunity to connect with businesses and industry leaders from across the ferry sector. CFOA 2013 will feature the presentation of a report highlighting the socio-economic importance of the ferry sector in Canada. In addition, there will be addresses by the Hon.

A cargo ship, MV Fri Ocean, has run aground approximately 2.5 miles south of Tobermory, Sound of Mull. Stornoway Coastguard received a 999 call just after 6 a.m. this morning reporting that a 90-meter vessel carrying wood had run aground on rocks. The RNLI Tobermory all-weather lifeboat and the Tobermory Coastguard Rescue Team have been sent to the scene. Norwegian shipping company Høyergruppen AS's small cargo ship MV Fri Ocean was heading from Fort William, Scotland to Varberg, Sweden. The seven crew on board are said to be safe and well, with no reported injuries.

Soil Machine Dynamics & Seebyte announce successful integration of SeeTrack CoPilot to SMD's work-class ROV system. The integration and trials, which took place in Fort William, Scotland, in mid-January, saw SeeByte’s SeeTrack CoPilot Software system for dynamic positioning and real-time monitoring of work class ROVs, successfully carry out a number of survey missions using the software’s easy to use, point-and-click interface. The software provides advanced features such as flight-modes…

Subsea UK and OPITO have each been awarded part of a £2million fund aimed at attracting vital new entrants into the industry and helping people to diversify their skills. Scotland’s leading diver training facility, The Underwater Center in Fort William, has also secured a share of The Energy Challenge Fund, set up to help tackle the current skills shortage in the oil and gas industry. The Fund, managed on behalf of the Scottish Government by Skills Development Scotland (SDS), will support employers’ skills needs to build on the talent pool in Scotland’s burgeoning energy sector. The training is aimed at helping people to gain the qualifications necessary for working in oil and gas, including the subsea sector, as well as renewables and micro-renewables.

Half of ROV class find employment within a week of completing training. A subsea training centre has reported an increase in employment of their students, with 50% of one class being employed within a week of graduating. The Underwater Center, Fort William saw half of a recent ROV class employed by leading providers of subsea services to the oil and gas industry, DOF Subsea, following the company’s attendance at an open day at the Center. A DOF Subsea representative attended the…

Scottish subsea testing and training facility is preferred choice for multi-national companies. A multi-national offshore technology company has chosen a leading subsea testing and training facility in Scotland to test and photograph its latest product, which was launched earlier this week. Cygnus Instruments decided to use subsea trials and training centre, The Underwater Centre, based in Fort William, to test their new metal thickness meter because of its unique replication of offshore facilities that are not available elsewhere.

The huge mid section of the UK’s first Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carrier will leave BAE Systems’ shipyard at Govan today, starting a 600 mile journey by sea to Rosyth, where the aircraft carrier will be assembled. Over 50 cyclists also left the yard , tracing the path of Lower Block 03 on land in an attempt to ‘beat the block’ to its final destination on the Forth and raise money for the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity. Minister for International Security Strategy, Gerald Howarth…