Hydrographic Surveys News

Amidst a more complex and uncertain operating environment, Singapore’s MPA is charting the long-term direction for Maritime Singapore. This includes developing strategies to seize growth opportunities and strengthen Singapore’s position as a key node in global trade, while continuing to drive innovation, accelerate technology adoption, and develop a future-ready workforce.MPA is developing the Maritime Singapore Master Plan, an industry-wide blueprint to guide the sector’s longer-term development.

SCHOTTEL has been chosen by Spanish shipyard GONDAN to provide the propulsion package for the Northern Lighthouse Board’s (NLB) newest vessel, POLE STAR. The ship was officially named on January 21, 2026 by Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, Patron of the Northern Lighthouse Board.Designed to maintain and service lighthouses, buoys, and other marine aids to navigation, POLE STAR requires high maneuverability supported by reliable propulsion. To meet these demands, the vessel is equipped with two SCHOTTEL RudderPropellers type SRP 460 LE and two TransverseThrusters type STT 2.

During a meeting on 4 December 2024, the International Hydrographic Organization Nautical Information Provision Work Group (IHO NIPWG) held a vote on the new Guide for Nautical Data 2.1. The guide was unanimously endorsed.The guide has been written, with contributory input from International Harbour Masters Association (IHMA) members around the world, to support hydrographic offices and port authorities in the discharge of their collective responsibilities as per the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Chapter V…

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has revealed the names of two new charting and mapping vessels it ordered from Thoma-Sea Marine Constructors in 2023.The names Surveyor and Navigator were chosen from a list of suggestions by NOAA staff, adhering to the agency’s naming policy that emphasizes vessels named for their missions.The name Surveyor holds significant historical weight. It not only pays homage to NOAA's mission but also honors two previous vessels that bore the same name.

Canada’s Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, Diane Lebouthillier, has released the names of the Canadian Coast Guard’s two future Polar Icebreakers: the CCGS Arpatuuq and CCGS Imnaryuaq.The vessels’ names were chosen in collaboration with Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami for their cultural significance to Inuit. The CCGS Arpatuuq references Akpatok Island, an uninhabited island in Nunavik, on the northern coast of Quebec. The island is an important geographical landmark in Ungava Bay that has been used by Inuit of Nunavik for centuries.

The Netherlands-based subsea services company N-Sea announced it has finalized a deal to acquire Geo Plus based in Groningen, The Netherlands.Geo Plus operates a fleet of five specialized survey vessels—Geo Ranger, Geo Focus, Geo Explorer, Geo Motion, and Geo Connection—which are currently operating on long-term projects in Europe and the Middle East. The vessels are well equipped for all types of geophysical surveys and inspection activities.By acquiring Geo Plus, N-Sea increases its capacity and capabilities in the field of shallow water hydrographic surveys…

U.S.-based marine services company TDI-Brooks announced it was awarded geophysical, geotechnical and benthic sampling survey campaigns to study seabed conditions within the project lease area and potential export cable corridors for offshore wind farms off the U.S. East Coast. TDI-Brooks said it expects to begin the program in April and will continue through summer 2023 with two to three vessels in operations. The data collected will help determine safe and responsible project design and engineering along with identifying potential geohazards and benthic habitats.

Bremerton, Wash. shipbuilder SAFE Boats International announced a production partnership with West Palm Beach, Fla.-based autonomous maritime technology provider Mythos AI. SAFE Boats has delivered a purpose-built Porter 78S workboat to Mythos AI. The aluminum-hull, outboard-driven Porter 78S survey boat, built under an exclusive license agreement with Stormer Work Boats of the Netherlands, is specifically designed for the integration of Mythos AI’s self-driving and autonomous hydrographic survey control system.Mythos AI’s first autonomous SAFE Porter 78S hydrographic survey vessel…

An unmanned vessel is now surveying more than 3,500 nautical miles of the Western Galveston Bay, near the Houston Ship Channel.DEA Marine Services, a division of David Evans and Associates, Inc. (DEA), in Vancouver, Wash., equipped its survey boat Sigsbee with a Sea Machines Robotics SM300 autonomous-command and remote-helm control system to fulfill a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) contract.Sigsbee, which is serving as an autonomous daughter craft for the project…

The heavy-lift vessel VB 10,000 arrived Tuesday at the Golden Ray wreck site in Georgia's St. Simons Sound, where the specialized vessel will be used by salvage crews to cut and lift sections of the overturned car carrier. The Korean-owned Golden Ray, which capsized after leaving the Port of Brunswick in September 2019, will be dismantled in place and removed in sections. Salvors have installed 16 lifting lugs on the wreck to provide connection points for the U.S.-flagged VB 10…

A specialized heavy-lift vessel departed the Port of Fernandina, Fla. Monday en route to Georgia's St. Simons Sound, where it will be used by salvage crews to cut and lift sections of the capsized car carrier Golden Ray.The U.S. flagged VB 10,000 is expected to reach the St. Simons Sound in the early hours on Tuesday and remain on scene for a minimum of eight weeks, plus any extra time required for weather stoppages or other unforeseen circumstances, Michael Himes, public information officer for the St Simons Sound Incident Response told MarineLink.The Korean-owned Golden Ray…

Vestdavit won a frame agreement to provide service, support and spares for the variety of marine davits it has supplied to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).NOAA operates a fleet of research and survey vessels that conduct a wide variety of missions, including oceanographic research, marine life studies and hydrographic surveys. Davits are needed to handle RHIBS of different sizes and 30ft Hydrographic Survey Launches, depending on the NOAA mission.The all-embracing five-year contract is valued at up to US$2.5 million and aligns with U.S.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said on Tuesday it has identified three obstructions from Hurricane Delta that have to be removed before it can reopen the Calcasieu Ship Channel in Louisiana to deep draft vessels.The Army Corps, however, said it needs more data before it can estimate how long it will take to dredge the channel.That channel allows tankers to access the Cameron liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant, the Lake Charles refineries owned by Citgo Petroleum Corp and…

Operations to remove the overturned car carrier Golden Ray in St. Simons Sound, Ga. are facing further delays after new engineering challenges surfaced relating to the mooring system of a specialized heavy-lift crane vessel that will be used for the project.The complex salvage project had been paused earlier this year due to coronavirus concerns and Hurricane Isaias, and now the cutting and lifting operations will be pushed back several weeks to allow engineers to modify the VB-10…

All summer long, a crimson and white boat moves back and forth through the waters near the Port of Alaska collecting silt, sand and gravel off the seafloor to allow vessels to navigate the harbor in Anchorage. The boat is a dredging vessel called the Westport, operated by Manson Construction of Seattle, Wash., which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Alaska District contracted to maintain the mooring areas for the past three years.An estimated 2,400 to 2,600 cargo containers arrive…

Driven by the need to organically protect maritime Task Groups from the threat of sea mines, the Royal Australian Navy is introducing a deployable Mine Counter-Measures (MCM) capability under the first phase of Project SEA 1778.The Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN) SEA 1778 deployable Mine Counter-Measures (MCM) capability is both a small step forward in the spiral development process and a “technological leap” into autonomy.”The RAN is looking to replace its four legacy Huon-class minehunter coastal ships (MHCs) with a new deployable MCM capability.

Shom, the French national hydrographic and oceanographic office selected SBG Systems’ inertial navigation sytems to renew their whole fleet of INS. They chose Navsight Apogee INS for their speedboats and survey vessels for both shallow and deep-water real-time bathymetric surveys and Qinertia PPK software for post-processing tasks.Shom has 3 major objectives: national hydrography and cartography, defense support in hydro-oceanographic fields, and support in maritime geospatial products and services for public policies on the sea and the coast.

Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) has taken delivery of a new survey craft as the latest acquisition in its Dredging Services division’s ongoing fleet replacement program in excess of $28 million. The vessel, valued at approximately $220,000 was built by a local company in Durban.Carl Gabriel, Executive Manager for TNPA’s Dredging Services division, said the new vessel is replacing the South African port landlord’s existing Survey Craft, Swift, which is 32 years old and…

Damen Shipyards Den Helder (DSDH) and the Netherlands’ Defense Material Organization (DMO) procurement agency have signed a contract for the design, build and delivery of a prototype Expeditionary Survey Boat (ESB).The craft will be optimized for rapid environmental assessments and hydrographic surveys in harbors, river mouths, shallow waters, coastal areas and shipping channels.The craft will be manned by four persons; two to crew the boat and two technicians to operate the hydrographic equipment, and will be able to spend up over 60 hours continuously at sea at her survey speed of 5 knots.

Indian Navy Ship, INS Sarvekshak, has arrived in Port Louis on a two month deployment for undertaking hydrographic surveys.It was welcomed by Hon. Purmanund Jhugroo, Minister of Housing and Lands of the Republic of Mauritius and Shri Abhay Thakur, High Commissioner of India, informed the High Commission of India, Port Louis, Mauritius.The ship will be undertaking the survey of the Le Morne area off mainland Mauritius as well as the area off the Southern coast of Rodrigues island, apart from imparting training to Mauritian Coast Guard personnel.INS Sarvekshak also ferried back to Mauritius the Inshore Survey Vessel (ISV) ‘Pathfinder’…

The global marine environmental science consulting firm  CSA Ocean Sciences (CSA) announced the completion of a survey to collect data for hydrodynamic model calibration and verification in Nassau Sound, located north of Jacksonville, Florida.The CSA team measured inshore and offshore water level, tides, current and waves to calibrate and validate a hydrodynamic model. The team installed water level recorders and a wave-enabled Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) and conducted an estuarine water discharge survey to gather the needed data.Morgan & Eklund, Inc. (M&E), CSA’s sister company, a licensed survey company specializing in hydrographic surveys, teamed with CSA on this project. The project was contracted and managed by Olsen Associates, Inc.

Thomas Chance founded C & C Technologies in his home in 1992. Today C & C is a global oil field surveying and mapping company with more than 550 employees in ten offices worldwide. C & C was the first company in the world to offer autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) survey services to the oil industry and remains a world leader in the field. In April of 2015, he sold C & C Technologies to Oceaneering International. Complementing the autonomous underwater vehicle business, Mr. Chance started Autonomous Surface Vehicles, Ltd., or ASV, in 2010. ASV has 140 employees, four offices across the globe and has built more than 100 state-of-the-art unmanned boats for the defense and commercial sectors.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Norfolk District accepted delivery of a new high-speed foil assisted hydrographic survey vessel, due to be commissioned on May 31, 2018.The all-aluminum catamaran, S/V Ewell, measures 61’-4” length overall with a 24’ beam. The vessel has two levels; the first has survey stations, and a pilot house is on the second level. The vessel has a galley, mess and sleeping accommodations.Designed to conduct hydrographic surveys using sophisticated multibeam and single beam sonars, the new vessel features Norbit Multibeam sonars and single frequency sonars mounted inside a retractable survey pod.Ewell is…