Valeport, a global leader in underwater measuring equipment, has achieved the internationally recognised Made In Britain accreditation for its range of innovative marine solutions that are developed, designed and manufactured at its UK headquarters in Totnes, Devon.
The independent, family-owned business, which employees more than 90 people from state-of-the art facilities on the River Dart, designs and supplies precision sensors and probes to a worldwide customer base that includes: environmental, energy, construction, dredging, engineering, scientific research and military sectors.
The Made In Britain accolade is part of an initiative to support and promote British manufacturing. Valeport will now use the Made in Britain registered mark of quality on their products, the mark is recognised as the ultimate stamp of British provenance and seen as an international seal of excellence domestically and worldwide.
Matt Quartley, Valeport managing director commented: “The Made In Britain status promotes our passion for British manufacturing, our commitment to quality and maintaining production here in the UK. We also believe it highlights the quality of our products and expertise gained from over 50 years of British manufacturing expertise.”
Valeport retains all aspects of developing and manufacturing processes in-house, an approach which means they have total control over every stage of the manufacturing process and can guarantee the quality and consistency of their products. The company’s riverside premises house all the facilities for designing, CNC machining, environmental testing, assembly, calibration and servicing for all Valeport products. With a global network of 72 distributors in over 54 countries, Valeport exports almost 80% of its outputs.
Valeport joins a select group of manufacturers who are permitted to use the Made In Britain status and coveted quality mark.
Converted energy from waves powering a Saab Seaeye Sabertooth autonomous vehicle operating in seabed residency mode is a major renewable energy breakthrough.
Significant savings in support vessel costs and CO2 emissions will result.
Pioneering the concept is C-Power’s SeaRAY Autonomous Offshore Power System (AOPS), which provides offshore power, energy storage, and real-time data communications for resident marine systems.
Trials of the Sabertooth residency concept will take place at the U.S. Navy’s Wave Energy Test Site (WETS) in Hawaii and last 20 days. The SeaRAY AOPS and other static assets will remain deployed for six months.
The Sabertooth, owned by Hibbard Inshore, and operated on behalf of C-Power, will repeatedly patrol pre-programmed areas to collect data, before returning to an underwater docking station for cloud upload and battery recharge.
Included in the studies will be seabed analysis, fish densities, infrastructure monitoring and water-column data gathering.
Many sectors will benefit
Many underwater sectors are seen to benefit from this innovative emission-free concept, including marine science and research, defence and security, aquaculture, and offshore energy.
The trials come in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office, together with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the U.S. Navy.
In particular, testing of the SeaRAY AOPS is included in the Navy’s Coastal Trident 2021 program, which is the largest port and maritime security undertaking in the nation.
For the Navy, the conventional difficulty in conducting underwater infrastructure surveys leaves critical infrastructure vulnerable to sabotage and intelligence gathering threats in this hidden environment. Frequently refreshed high-definition sensor data can alert remote operators to possible intruder activity.
Operating the Sabertooth will demonstrate that subsea residence enables a sustained presence to secure underwater port infrastructure and its ability to support efforts to protect shipping against underwater explosive devices.
For the trials, the Sabertooth will be equipped with an R2Sonic Sonic 2024 multibeam echosounder, 2G Robotics ULS-500 PRO Laser Scanner and camera, and the ASL AZFP 70,120 & 200 kHz Acoustic Zooplankton Fish Profiler.
Uniquely Hovering
The success of the multi-role, 3000m rated Saab Seaeye Sabertooth comes from it being the world’s only roaming and hovering system that can operate in both fully autonomous (AUV) and tethered (ROV) modes, enabling fully flexible dual operations from a single platform.
Hibbard will deploy the Sabertooth for other significant projects this year including research at Lake Michigan by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) concerning the invasive zebra mussel that adversely impacts the U.S. Great Lakes Region at a cost of $500million a year.
OceanWise Ltd. has announced two brand new partnerships this month seeing the addition of Avenca Limited and Neotek to their Licenced Partnership programme.
Avenca Limited, a UK company based in Salisbury, will be integrating and reselling the extensive marine mapping range from OceanWise to their government, commercial and military customers around the world. Avenca have developed a range of systems and services for marine data analysis and wish to integrate OceanWise’s Marine Mapping Data Services like the Electronic Navigation Charts Web Map Service, into their products.
For more information please view their website at: www.avenca.co.uk.
Neotek, who supply end-users with high-tech instrumentations in the field of marine environmental assessment providing “best quality solutions for successful operations at sea” are based in Caudan France. Neotek will be reselling the OceanWise range of environmental monitoring products including OceanWise’s data platform Port-Log, which is widely used by a majority of ports in the UK and increasingly across the world. The system which provides a quick and easy storage and publishing solution for environmental data is consistently being developed to cater for the changing needs of this important sector.
For more details please view their website at: neotek-web.com
UK based OceanWise Ltd. Deliver their portfolio of speciality products and services that cater for the unique requirements of the marine industry directly and through their network of licenced partners around the world. They are looking forward to developing their relationship with both new partners.
Kraken Robotics Inc. (TSX-V: PNG, OTCQB: KRKNF), Canada’s Ocean Company, is pleased to announce that it has acquired 13 Robotics Ltda of Brazil (“13R”). The 13R team, with offices in Rio de Janeiro and Salvador, Brazil, consists of software developers and engineers who have significant experience in underwater robotics and autonomous systems for the energy markets. Since inception in 2013, 13R have completed projects for a number of global energy companies, with a focus on autonomous underwater inspection in offshore oil and gas as well as renewable energy.
Commenting on the acquisition, Karl Kenny, Kraken President and CEO said, “Kraken has known and worked with members of the 13R team since 2016. We look forward to utilizing their expertise in robotic system development, leveraging their relationships with leading international energy companies, and to them providing a base of opportunity for Robotics/Data as a Service capabilities in South America. As the offshore energy markets continue to focus on reduction of costs and reduction of greenhouse gases through the use of resident autonomous systems, Kraken and the 13R team will be well positioned to support the need for clean, efficient and cost-effective technology.”
13R, which will operate as Kraken Robotics Brasil Ltda., is highly complementary to Kraken:
13R’s substantial experience in Artificial Intelligence and Autonomy will both complement and augment Kraken’s existing offerings, reducing time to market for new applications of Kraken’s SeaVision underwater 3D laser scanner.
13R has a demonstrated track-record in subsea autonomy for seabed resident AUVs, including dynamic path planning, obstacle detection and avoidance, underwater docking, and adaptive failure-tolerant control systems, all of which will directly benefit Kraken’s ThunderFish XL Seabed Resident AUV program.
13R’s continued work in resident systems with multi-modal inspection capabilities will support Kraken’s ongoing applications in digital twinning of critical subsea assets.
Furthermore, Kraken’s acquisition of 13R provides technical and commercial on-the-ground access to the Brazilian offshore oil and gas industry, opening the door to further opportunities in that major market.
Consideration for the 13R acquisition was US$220,000 cash.
Offshore hydrographic survey specialist joins forces with subsea glider and ocean monitoring expert team
Hydrographic marine survey company Nicola Offshore GmbH and Cyprus Subsea Consulting and Services C.S.C.S. Ltd (C.S.C.S.) have signed a commercial partnership agreement with the goal of sharing knowledge and resources to unlock new efficiencies for acquiring marine data using multibeam echosounders, subsea gliders and ocean monitoring instruments.
Opened in March 2021 as a sister company to Nicola Engineering, a survey company operating since the seventies, Nicola Offshore will bring technical expertise on the more specialist aspects of marine data acquisition such as object and unexploded ordinance (UXO) search to the partnership. Established in 2012, Cyprus Subsea Consulting and Services C.S.C.S. Ltd will contribute its expertise in subsea glider surveys and oceanographic sensors for marine monitoring, as well as its experience in automating aspects of marine environmental surveying.
Nicola Offshore Explorer
“The partnership helps to extend the reach of both companies, opening more opportunities to support clients in Northern and Southern Europe,” said Daniel Esser, Managing Director, Nicola Offshore. “While the commercial potential is exciting, we’re also keen to extend our service platform with glider capabilities and expertise, and be part of developing new methodologies and processes together with C.S.C.S. that will enable us to expedite and secure the precision of the data we acquire on behalf of clients.”
“Nicola Offshore has demonstrated a unique focus on delivering high quality marine data for demanding ad-hoc campaigns, which we feel strongly complements our existing services and technology portfolio,” said Cyprus Subsea Managing Director, Dr. Daniel Hayes. “We’re looking forward to developing the capabilities, technology and network of C.S.C.S. and Nicola Offshore, while at the same time providing new and extended capabilities to our established client base.”
Sonardyne’s Ranger 2 Ultra-Short BaseLine (USBL) underwater tracking technology is to support to critical oceanographic work from the research vessel Atlantis, including science expeditions in the human occupied submersible Alvin. The most updated version of Ranger 2 replaces the vessel’s existing Ranger 1 system, and provides greater precision, speed and range tracking and.
Additional upgrades include a new 10,000 m rated AvTrak tracking and telemetry instrument for Alvin, needed to support the increased depth rating of the submersible, from 4,500 m to 6,500 m. The Ranger 2 system will support the Atlantis’ work by enabling science teams to precisely position submersibles and other underwater platforms deployed from vessel, as well as tracking instruments, towed sleds and dredges, in all water depths.
The team on the Atlantis will also be able to use Ranger 2 to communicate with scientists onboard the Alvin via the AvTrak, which can also act as a relocation beacon for the Alvin, as well as remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) deployed by the Atlantis. The Atlantis, which is owned by the US Office of Naval Research and operated by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for the benefit of the US oceanographic community, is also upgrading its through-hull transceiver from a High Performance Transceiver (HPT) 5000 to a Gyro USBL 7000, complete with a new gate valve, flanges and sea chest.
Partnership will offer leading offshore geotechnical services across the world
Marine robotics company Ocean Infinity and geotechnical drilling experts Gregg Drilling, a subsidiary of Alaska Native Corporation Sealaska, have formed a Joint Venture (JV) to provide geotechnical services to offshore markets in traditional and renewable energy field developments and cables.
The JV combines the expertise and assets of the two companies and will see Gregg Drilling mobilise its seabed drills onto the Armada fleet of uncrewed and optionally crewed vessels ranging from 21m-78m in size.
Pairing Gregg’s deep-water geotechnical drilling capability with Ocean Infinity’s Armada geophysical fleet, and recently enhanced data analytics capabilities following the acquisition of MMT, will expand capabilities for both companies to complete offshore investigations globally. The JV will enable more sustainable underwater development, including geotechnical data collection, needed to support offshore wind anchor and foundation design.
Oliver Plunkett, Ocean Infinity’s CEO, said:
“Partnering with Gregg Drilling to further expand the capabilities of our Armada fleet of vessels will enable us to provide full-service solutions to customers spanning geophysical and geotechnical tasks.”
“Gregg Drilling and its parent company Sealaska share our vision for reducing the environmental impact of offshore activities. This agreement marks another step on our journey to transform marine operations, and we are excited to be doing so in partnership with another innovative team that shares our passion for sustainability.”
John Gregg, President of Gregg Drilling, said:
“We are pleased to partner with Ocean Infinity to provide an industry-leading geotechnical offering. Ocean Infinity’s Armada fleet has revolutionised the outlook for marine operations through its uncrewed capability and its unmatched focus on sustainability. We look forward to working together to best use the expertise of both companies.”
aae technologies, an award-winning manufacturer of specialist subsea equipment, has refreshed its brand and website as it looks to accelerate business growth in the UK and overseas.
Complementing the launch of its groundbreaking Easytrak Pyxis INS + USBL tracking system, the rebrand also underpins recent company expansion and the formation of aae’s dedicated geophysics and renewables divisions.
Originally founded as applied acoustics in 1989, aae technologies was launched in 2016 as a parent company for applied acoustics and sister company, modulus technology. Through its two sub-brands, the company designs and develops innovative hydro-acoustic solutions for customers in the marine, defence, oil & gas and renewable energy industries worldwide.
applied acoustics has twice won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the International Trade category, in recognition of its technical innovation and export growth.
Adam Darling, chairman of aae technologies, first launched the company from a goat shed in his back garden. A talented engineer himself, he now heads a team whose products are used extensively around the globe and in ways that genuinely transform the world for the better – whether it’s playing a vital role in the development of offshore renewable energy installations, keeping marine traffic safe from underwater threats and hazards, or helping the scientific community gain a better understanding of the oceans.
The company’s rebrand encompasses contemporary new logos for aae technologies and its two sub-brands – applied acoustics and modulus technology – as well as a new website that incorporates the refreshed branding and effectively consolidates the three companies.
Adam Darling, chairman of aae technologies
“Lockdown gave us an opportunity to refocus the business and find even better ways of connecting with our customers,” said Adam Darling, chairman of aae technologies. “Our new website reflects a changing industry, and indeed a changing aae technologies, as we continue to develop new products and enhance our expertise in a number of areas, not least geophysics and renewables, which are vital industries both now and in the future.”
applied acoustics’ products range from sophisticated underwater positioning and tracking systems to acoustic equipment for sub-bottom profiling and geophysical surveys. modulus technology provides technical support for applied acoustics products, as well as custom engineering services for customers in need of bespoke solutions for one-off projects.
Fugro is the world’s leading Geo-data specialist, collecting and analysing comprehensive information about the Earth and the structures built upon it. Adopting an integrated approach that incorporates acquisition and analysis of Geo-data and related advice, Fugro provides solutions. With expertise in site characterisation and asset integrity, clients are supported in the safe, sustainable and efficient design, construction and operation of their assets throughout the full life cycle.
Due to an increase in operational demand Fugro, based in Aberdeen, are currently recruiting for offshore positions within both the Marine Asset Integrity (MAI) and Marine Site Characterisation (MSC) Business Lines. Each role will operate on an offshore basis with staff providing technical support for survey operations on a variety of survey projects, liaising with onshore support as required. In addition, there will be opportunities to support the development of our remote operations capability.
We are currently inviting applications for the following positions:
Data Processor
Surveyor
Engineer / Senior Engineer
Technical Coordinator
We are looking for individuals who:
Have good attention to detail and a methodical approach,
Have a proactive; can-do attitude; and are a team player.
Are good at problem solving; and enjoy tackling the technical challenges presented in survey operations.
Are looking to add value to an environment that fosters a culture of safe survey practice.
Are looking for an offshore role with an expected utilisation of approximately 180 days per year.
Qualified in relevant survey / engineering / earth science related discipline and have previous experience within the offshore sector.
These are permanent full-time posts which come with a competitive salary and attractive package.
Integrated subsea technology and services provider Ashtead Technology has signed a deal with Zetechtics to offer customers a range of new ROV tooling technologies.
The agreement will see an array of torque tools, control systems and associated peripherals from the subsea control systems specialist made available to customers through Ashtead Technology’s nine customer service hubs.
David Mair, Ashtead Technology’s Business Development Director said: “We are continually developing and expanding our capability to meet the diverse needs of our customers around the world, who operate in all areas of the global energy industry. These new technologies offer improved performance, reliability and efficiency, as well as a greater level of user-friendliness.
“Zetechtics has 27 years of experience for us to draw on and this collaboration is set to add undeniable value to our customers operations.”
The deal gives both organisations the scope to add further specialist equipment based on demand.
Alan Duncan, Commercial Director of Zetechtics, said: “Customers prefer to use modern, easily-supported equipment, with the type of technical features they would have access to if buying new.
“We are excited to collaborate with Ashtead Technology and by introducing a wide range of new equipment to the market in this way will enable their customers to unlock the potential of our market-leading solutions.”
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
