Page 8: of Marine Technology Magazine (October 2010)

8 MTR October 2010 news

Kongsberg Signs

BW Offshore

Contract

Kongsberg Maritime signed a contract with

BW Offshore

Singapore to supply an ACET-package on an Engineering,

Procurement &

Construction (EPC) basis for the Kangean

Energy Indonesia gas

FPSO, which will oper- ate on the Terang

Sirasun Batur (TSB) fields in Indonesia. The contract is valued close to $20m.

Kongsberg Maritime's scope of supply includes design, engi- neering, manufactur- ing, testing and supply of all materials, equip- ment, accessories and tools required for the complete integrated

Automation, Control,

E-House, Electrical hardware and

Telecommunication systems, for installa- tion and operation on the FPSO.

Schilling Wins Order from TS Marine

Schilling Robotics received an order for two of its 4,000m (13,000 ft.) rated

UltraHeavy-Duty (UHD)

Remotely Operated

Vehicles (ROVs) from

Australian subsea spe- cialist TS Marine. The

UHD systems will be outfitted with

Schilling’s XE extend- ed excursion Tether

Management System (TMS), and will be fully integrated within TS

Marine’s Havila. (Photo cour tesy Hawkes Remotes)

Hawkes Remotes Inc. (HRI) announced its initial product lineup, a family of three

ROVs which incorporates new proprietary fiber-optic tether technology and high ener- gy-density batteries to enable range, depth, and deployment capabilities well beyond those of current-generation ROVs. HRI’s

ROVs will leverage its new SpiderOptic tech- nology, which uses thin armored fiber-optic tethers that pay out as the vehicles move, reducing drag, improving performance, and eliminating the need for cumbersome ship- based support infrastructure. HRI’s

SpiderOptic cartridge systems will be avail- able in single-use (disposable) and reusable configurations, and are designed to be easily and quickly swappable in the field. In addi- tion, all HRI vehicles will be made available for full ocean depth, building on a suite of tested components developed for the

Challenger manned deep sea submersible. “SpiderOptic technology fundamentally changes the way ROVs move through the water,” said Graham Hawkes, the company’s

Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder. “By using thin tethers deployed directly from the vehicle, we will fundamentally alter the performance and efficiency of deep sea and long range deployments. This technology also gives HRI’s ROVs a decided advantage in portability, enabling rapid response deployments and utilization from smaller ships of opportunity.” “When you look at the cost of ROV oper- ations, it’s driven primarily by the ship costs, not the actual ROV cost,” said Jonathan

Epstein, the company’s CEO and Co-

Founder. “Moreover, the capital cost for standard ROVs capable of deepwater work requires expensive TMS and deck gear. For a large percentage of subsea tasks, HRI’s vehicles enable those costs to be eliminated or reduced by 80%, which will improve the economics for existing subsea businesses, while enabling new subsea applications and increasing the potential scale of ocean explo- ration by the world’s research community.”

HRI is currently developing three different

ROV models for launch in 2011. The com- pany’s first vehicle, the U-11000, is sched- uled for release in Q1 2011 and will be opti- mized for long-range survey, observation, and light intervention, making it ideal for remote inspection, repair and maintenance

New ROV

Hawkes Unveils New ROV Class

HRI's U-11000 ROV, which ships Q1 2011, will combine long range and deep depth capa- bilities with tools for intervention. (continued on page 10)