The International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) has published ‘ADCI/IOGP/IMCA Diving Terms’ as IMCA D 057. “This invaluable document has been prepared as a joint industry project (JIP) involving representatives from IMCA, the Association of Diving Contractors International (ADCI) in the United States, and the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP) Diving Industry Work Group (DIWG),” explains Richard Benzie.

Independent subsea remotely operated vehicle (ROV) service provider ROVOP has expanded its fleet of ROVs for the US region. The company has taken delivery of a new vehicle which will be the first of its kind for the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) and, in a direct response to market conditions, is set to help operators reduce costs by 40%. The commercially-proven Seaeye Leopard electric work class ROV, the most powerful vehicle for its size in the world, adds to ROVOP’s existing capability at its Houston base.

Recent discoveries indicate potential new sources of rare earth elements and scandium in the deep seabed. Ocean Minerals, LLC (Ocean Minerals) has identified areas of prospective potential in the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Cook Islands, and has entered into an agreement with the Cook Islands government for exclusive rights to prospect and explore these areas.

City-sized maps of terrain and life on the sea-floor have revealed that drifts of ‘marine snow’ on submarine hillsides act as a source of food to fuel a higher biomass of marine life on the hills than on the flatter plains surrounding hills. This finding comes from research published today in Nature Scientific Reports by scientists at the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), which may help improve understanding of how features, like hillside slopes and plateaus, add complexity to seafloor habitats and help drive the distribution of marine life.

THE top three international employers and training providers shortlisted to compete to be crowned winners at the annual OPITO Safety and Competency Awards in Kuala Lumpur have been announced today (28th September, 2016). Shell Nigeria, Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL) and McDermott are shortlisted in the Employer of the Year category, while PT Sampson Tiara, Wild Geese and Grupo Stier have been named in the OPITO approved Training Provider of the Year section. The winning companies in each category will be unveiled during the 2016 OPITO Safety & Competency Conference (OSCC), in partnership with PETRONAS, at The Royale Chulan, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Wednesday 16th November.

European scientists are joining forces to better understand oceanic change, by coordinating ocean data acquisition, analysis and response on scales ranging from the provincial to the global. Marking a major milestone, the first Assembly of Members meeting of the European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water-column Observatory (EMSO) will be held September 28-29th in Rome, Italy

NANAIMO, September 23, 2016 !4 An innovative product has been launched by SEAMOR Marine Ltd. An in-house designed and produced Auxiliary Camera has been developed to expand the capabilities of a underwater remotely-operated vehicles (ROV).

Escort S.P our Polish distributor of AC-CESS products has been awarded the contract to supply specialised underwater equipment for inspection of harbours throughout Poland. The AC-ROV has been purchased to be integrated into 2 new vessels which were under construction at the time of the sale. Arek Markowski of Escort Sp. Zo.o said “The vessels will service 2 harbours in Poland, one in Gdansk and the other in Szczecin. The AC-ROV’s will be carrying out general harbour inspections by the harbour vessels”.

Brazil’s most advanced ROV support vessel (RSV), the Fugro Aquarius, has specified acoustic positioning technology supplied by Sonardyne Brasil Ltda., to support its subsea inspection, repair and maintenance activities in the region. Already delivered and fully commissioned, the Ranger 2 Ultra-Short BaseLine (USBL) system is being used to track the precise position of the vessel’s Work-class ROVs in water depths of upto 3,000 metres. It is also providing the vessel’s dynamic positioning (DP) system with position reference data to allow it to remain on-location whilst survey operations are underway.

Meet Helix Canyon Offshore at WindEnergy Hamburg'16

Topaz Energy and Marine, a leading offshore support vessel company, has been appointed the technical managers of three vessels by a consortium comprising Blue Water Shipping A/S and Kazmortransflot (KMTF), in connection with the TCO developed Tengiz oil field in Kazakhstan.

The German Hydrographic Society (DHyG) to stage the International Federation of Hydrographic Societies’ (IFHS) 2016 symposium and exhibition in Rostock-Warnemünde, Germany, from 8-10 November 2016. Venue will be the spacious Yachthafenresidenz Hohe Düne Hotel overlooking the Baltic Sea. 300 to 400 participants from all sectors of the hydrographic and related professions are envisaged and 48 exhibitors will provide their latest developments. Presentations in 14 sessions will cover the emerging topics ranging from the Perspectives of Hydrographic to Space Hydrography, covering strategic, practical and technical issues. All this accompanied by specialist workshops, on-water demonstrations and open ships.

Topaz Energy and Marine, a leading offshore support vessel company, has secured substantial contracts in connection with the development of the Tengiz oilfield in Kazakhstan during 2016. The two contract wins announced in the second and third quarter together represent revenue of more than US$500 million. The two contracts bring Topaz’s backlog to approximately US$1.7 billion.

An ambitious two-week mission involving ten marine robots has commenced off northwest Scotland. The third in a series of demonstrator missions, this latest phase sees the largest fleet of marine robotic vehicles simultaneously deployed in UK waters. The mission comprises seven submarine gliders and three surface Wave Gliders that are working together in fleets to collect a range of environmental data. The National Oceanography Centre (NOC) started the ‘Exploring Ocean Fronts’ programme in 2014, working with partners across science, government and industry to field-test novel marine autonomous systems for long-endurance ocean monitoring

An innovative development by Fugro for its work class remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) has been utilised successfully in cable lay touchdown monitoring operations at the Rampion Offshore Wind Farm. A new track base unit, fitted to its FCV ROV, has been introduced to ensure highly accurate cable positioning during cable lay operations in strong currents. The new track base unit ensures the continuation of operations in strong currents by enabling the ROV to run along the seabed instead of flying through the water. The unit is fitted to the existing ROV frame but can be detached easily if required. It was developed following another project for E.ON at the Humber Gateway Offshore Wind Farm in 2015, where Fugro introduced a compact custom-made cable lay spread that included new 3D sonar technology to supplement ROV support and provide precise monitoring of cable touchdown. During this project in the North Sea Fugro experienced currents as high as 3.5 knots.

Hydrographic survey and diving equipment specialists, Unique Group, has selected subsea vehicle positioning and navigation technology from Sonardyne International Ltd, to add to its expanding equipment rental pool. The SPRINT Inertial Navigation Systems (INS) and Syrinx Doppler Velocity Logs (DVLs) will be held at the company’s regional headquarters in Aberdeen and made available to support survey and construction projects using ROVs and AUVs in water depths up to 4,000 metres.

For the average person you can now buy various versions of "copter" drones, depending only on their budget.The point is, when we think of drones, we typically think about one direction and that is up. That direction is about to change and you can now purchase a nifty little device that's sure to be a hit with the underwater diving and boating community. Starfish connects its human operator on the surface with a 300-foot umbilical cord designed to allow you to haul objects to the surface.

Advances in Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), autonomous inspection technology and the challenges posed by a sustained low oil price will be amongst the topics under the spotlight at Subsea UK’s 2016 Underwater Vehicles Conference. Formally known as the Subsea UK ROV Conference, the industry body has cast the net wider to include the country’s growing underwater robotics community.