Hugin News

Dutch shipbuilding conglomerate Damen Shipyards Group announced it has signed a contract with BOA Group for two ASD Tugs 3010 ICE. Due to Damen’s practice of constructing vessels in series for stock, the tugs were already under construction at the time of order and will be delivered later this year.BOA’s fleet consists of specialized offshore vessels, semi-submersible barges and harbor tugs. The order for these two Damen tugs is a part of the Norwegian company’s strategic fleet…

Kongsberg Discovery announced a Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) award to assist in the U.S. Navy’s Large Displacement Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (LDUUV) prototype.Kongsberg Discovery has been awarded a contract with the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to rapidly deliver HUGIN Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) capabilities for the U.S. Military. The total contract  could result in the Navy acquiring HUGIN Endurance and HUGIN Superior deep-water AUV systems.HUGIN Endurance, one of the newest members in the HUGIN AUV family, measures 39-ft. long and nearly 4-ft.

Oslo-listed offshore service company Argeo has informed that its DP2 vessel Argeo Searcher completed the deepwater inspection services at Shell’s Bonga field, and is scheduled to set sail to Indian Ocean for a job with India’s National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR).In a vessel schedule update, released on January 22, 2024, Argeo confirmed its current backlog includes close to $53 million (NOK 550 million), with a further sales and revenue potential of additional $19 million (NOK 200) million for Argeo Searcher vessel in the second half of 2024.According to the company…

Oslo-listed offshore service company Argeo said Friday it would upgrade its subsea vessel, Argeo Searcher, to expand its capabilities for the oil and gas subsea market and marine minerals seabed exploration."The vessel upgrade will be carried out at Fjellstrand, a company with a solid track record and experience in this type of projects. The work will be carried out in October 2023 and is fully financed by the vessel owner. After completion, the Argeo Searcher will be a true multipurpose inspection…

In the early morning hours of September 26, 2022, seismologists located throughout northern Europe detected two disturbances originating in the Baltic Sea that were consistent with underwater explosions. Within hours, an aerial image captured by a passing Danish F-16 showed an expanse of frothy seawater, suggesting that the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines had experienced a catastrophic event. Within days, an investigation by the Swedish Security Service concluded that both pipelines had sustained extensive damage due to an act of gross sabotage.

Norway's Kongsberg Maritime has secured a contract award with Polish shipbuilder Remontowa Shipbuilding SA (RSB) to supply three shipsets of Kongsberg Hugin Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) systems and related HiPAP positioning and communication systems for three newbuild warships for the Polish Navy.The total contract value exceeds €10 million, with the Kongsberg equipment planned for the next three ships in the Kormoran II Mine-Countermeasures (MCM) vessel program (#4, #5, and #6).These three ships will be delivered between 2026 and 2027.

Bluewater's Haewene Brim FPSO, normally used for oil production from Shell's Pierce Field in the UK North Sea, has recently arrived in Haugesund, Norway.Norwegian engineering and construction Aibel shared a video of the FPSO arrival in Haugesund, towed by a Maersk Supply Service vessel. In Norway, the Haewene Brim FPSO, built in 1996,  will undergo upgrades and life extension work.While at Aibel's yard, the FPSO will also be upgraded to allow for gas export, the Norwegian firm said.According to World Energy Reports' FPSO database…

Automation, where routine tasks are handled by machines, has been talked about throughout maritime sectors for much of the 21st Century. Initially touted by suppliers of engine room and bridge management systems for its cost savings (with reduced manning levels), its value proposition was then infused with risk management (reduced human error) and remote operations, where vessels could be managed from a shoreside control room. In early 2017, Rolls Royce —an early proponent of unmanned operations—teamed with tug operator Svitzer on a remotely operated vessel…

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…

The U.S. Navy uses unmanned and robotic underwater vehicles for a multitude of functions, including environmental sensing, mine hunting, and salvage. The Navy plans to evolve an unmanned systems operating concept that is platform agnostic and capable of operating in highly complex contested environments with minimal operator interaction.The most recent edition of the Navy’s Unmanned Systems (UxS) Roadmap was issued in 2018, and a new version is expected in the near future. The 2018 document states that UxS will operate in every domain…

The wreck of one of the U.S. Navy's longest serving battleships has been found 15,400 feet beneath the surface about 65 nautical miles southwest of Pearl Harbor, researchers said Monday.The USS Nevada (BB-36), which served in two world wars over the course of a career that spanned more than three and a half decades, was discovered by underwater and terrestrial archaeology firm SEARCH, Inc. and marine robotics company Ocean Infinity at the bottom of the Pacific.The mission was jointly coordinated between SEARCH's operations center and one of Ocean Infinity's vessels, Pacific Constructor.

The search for the Argentinian submarine was like hunting for the proverbial needle in a hay stack, except that it was a piece of straw. Elaine Maslin reports. At 7.19am, local time, on November 15, 2017, the last message was received from the San Juan submarine. She belonged to the Argentinian navy and was on a routine mission from Ushuaia in the Patagonia region to Mar del Plata in Buenos Aires province when she lost contact with the military. Fifteen days later, neither the submarine nor any debris had been found and the crew of 44 sailors were presumed dead.

Norwegian technology enterprise Kongsberg Maritime announced that contracts have been signed for the sale of a HUGIN AUV System to the Indian National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), located in Chennai, India.According to a statement from Kongsberg Maritime India, the HUGIN AUV System ordered by NIOT is rated to a depth of 6,000 metres and will be equipped with a Kongsberg HISAS 1032 synthetic aperture sonar and EM2040 multibeam echosounder, designed for hydrographic and seabed classification applications.It will also carry a high-resolution colour still image camera, plus a range of environmental sensors for oceanographic surveys, including a magnetometer.

UK-based autonomous work-boat company SEA-KIT said that its Maxlimer could be the first unmanned surface vessel across the Atlantic.The British drone ship is set to sail from the coast of Canada and attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean for Great Britain this fall in a voyage that could bring crewless cargo ships closer to reality.According to The Daily Beast, the Atlantic crossing is scheduled for sometime in the first half of 2020. Since Maxlimer has a range of 12,000 nm with its twin diesel engines, the journey is well within its technical specifications, and it is expected to take about one month to complete the voyage.The Maxlimer…

Kongsberg Maritime reports it has signed the first contract for the new HUGIN Superior 6,000-meter rated autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV).According to its manufacturer, the HUGIN Superior, introduced to the market in December 2018, is engineered to provide significantly enhanced data, positioning and endurance capabilities while building on the proven track record of the HUGIN AUVs. The complete AUV system will be delivered in DNV certified offshore containers along with a…

The GEBCO NF- Alumni Team was announced as the $4 million grand prize winner of the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE, a three-year global competition that challenged teams to advance deep sea technologies for autonomous and unmanned, fast and high-resolution ocean exploration. The team's winning concept includes the use of a unique unmanned surface vessel (USV) / autonomous underwater vessel (AUV) and associated combination of communications hardware and software to process and transmit data remotely.

Norway’s newest autonomous shipping test site is now officially open and ready to support the development of high-tech autonomous maritime solutions. Building on Norway’s leading position within the burgeoning autonomous shipping segment, the new test-bed in Horten is designed to offer Norwegian and international organizations a convenient, safe, non-congested space to trial new technology and vessels as the third of its kind in the country and the fourth such approved area in the world.

Fugro Venturer, the newest of Fugro’s purpose-designed, standardized survey vessels, has departed on her maiden voyage that takes her to the deep waters of Ireland’s Atlantic margin and the far North of the Barents Sea. The 72-meter vessel is a platform for technological innovation, where Fugro’s trademark technologies such as OARS (centralized command centers with direct access to offshore survey projects), Back2Base (enabling large amounts of survey data to be sent from offshore…

Kongsberg Maritime has been chosen to deliver an integrated subsea technology systems package including two HUGIN Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) for a new Peruvian Navy Hydrographic & Oceanographic research vessel. The 97 meter BAP Carrasco’is built at Construcciones Navales P. Freire shipyard in Vigo, Spain. The advanced new research ship will have Polar capability and be classified with PC7 notation to perform research in Peruvian waters, in order to fulfill Peru’s commitment under the Antarctic Treaty.

In January 2016 turnover of the Murmansk Marine Fishing Port reached 22 thousand tons of cargo, including 15 thousand tons of fish. This is higher than last year, when the port is received and processed 17,800 tons of cargo, from the bottom of 9500 tons of fish. As explained in the press-service of the port, such a difference in volume is due to not only the growth rate of the catch basin in the North, but also by the fact that in the Murmansk delivered 4,200 tonnes of mackerel, sardines and sardine caught by Russian fishermen in African waters. Fish brought back to port-Lithuanian transport refrigerator "Capella" (home port - Klaipeda). "Such cargo as sardine and sardinella, not unloaded in Murmansk in 2003.

Fugro is providing an additional vessel, the Havila Harmony, to join the search for the missing flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean. From the 93-metre multi-role vessel, Fugro will deploy the Echo Surveyor VII autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). Havila Harmony is under long-term charter to Fugro and has excellent sea-keeping capabilities, providing a stable platform for operations in a wide range of weather conditions. Echo Surveyor VII was used earlier this year in search operations; when sea conditions deteriorated beyond limitations for the safe launch and recovery of the AUV, it was withdrawn. The state-of-the-art AUV will…

Making her debut at the Martin Midstream Dock in Galveston, Texas, Fugro’s new geophysical survey vessel, the Fugro Americas, was showcased to clients, with more than 100 in attendance, the company announced. Fugro gave guided tours of the newbuild vessel, with geophysical, geoscience, survey and HSE professionals on hand to demonstrate its state-of-the-art equipment and features along with the working parts of a geophysical survey. Clients were able to view the advanced survey instrumentation…

Newbuild shallow draft survey vessel Fugro Americas was delivered to Fugro on March 18, 2015. Built by Thoma-Sea Marine Constructors in Louisiana, with supervision by Fugro Marine Services Custom, the new vessel is designed to Fugro’s specifications, fitted with the latest geophysical survey equipment and houses some of the most advanced instrumentation in the field, Fugro noted. The Fugro Americas is optimized for working in the Gulf of Mexico, but is also suited for operations in other geographical areas…