Page 38: of Marine Technology Magazine (January 2023)

Tech Files

Innovative new vessels and technologies

Sea-Kit International

ASI/Saab Seaeye

Sea-Kit Ramps Up, ASI Deploys Falcon in African

Triples Production Capacity Croc Infested Waters

Sea-Kit International’s new production ASI Group deployed a Saab Seaeye Fal- facility for its larger XL-Class Uncrewed con ROV into crocodile-infested waters

Surface Vessel (USV) is now operational, in East Africa, crocodiles which have with the ? rst 18m hull being ? tted out been preventing manual inspection of ready for delivery this summer to Fugro. remote inland underwater structures sup-

Forum Energy Technologies

The company is off to a busy year, deliv- porting East Africa’s power generation.

FET delivers trio of ROVs ering two more of its 12m X-Class vessels, ASI reports that the curious crocodiles

Forum Energy Technologies (FET) with another two currently being built. In soon lost interest in the Seaeye Falcon delivered three of its 200HP Perry XLX- addition, Sea-Kit debuted the XL-Class, as the robot ventured into rivers and res- which has three times the payload capac- C work-class remotely operated vehicles ervoirs, as well as inside structures and (ROVs) to Brazil-based OceanPact. The ity, and it recently was granted patents for tunnels, to inspect and survey the wide systems will be deployed across two of its X and XL-Class designs. variety of infrastructure supporting ? ve

OceanPact’s vessels to support IRM ser- “It is great to go into 2023 with the new power stations.

facility up and running. With the addition vices for Petrobras. A truck crane was used to remove cov- of this building, we have tripled production Each XLX-C was supplied with an un- ers and stoplogs, and to launch the Fal- derslung tooling skid for additional tool- capacity and expanded our R&D area,” con into a variety of access locations. ing and options ? tment, complementing said Ben Simpson, Sea-Kit CEO. “It gives The crane’s long boom kept personnel a us more, much-needed space for the ongo- the vehicles high performance. A com- safe distance from the crocodiles. Even prehensive supplementary tooling pack- ing development of launch and recovery in extremely murky waters the smallest age including torque tools, veri? cation systems for ROVs and AUVs, mast gondo- anomalies in structures were captured on units and ? uid injection systems was las and sensor deployment systems, as well the Falcon’s sonar by ASI operators.

as enhancing manufacturing ef? ciencies also provided. Areas previously considered inaccessi-

The ROVs were supplied with active for multiple USV builds.” ble were surveyed, proving the versatility

Sea-Kit of? cially opened the new build- heave compensated Dynacon launch of the multi-beam sonar system provided and recovery systems (LARS), as well ing, built alongside the company’s existing by ASI. In one location, the Falcon was as associated surface power and control base in Tollesbury, Essex, UK, on October lowered over 20m by crane to reach a ba- 1, 2022. installations. sin surrounded by jungle.

USEA Ocean Data one step closer to Unmanned Ship

USEA Ocean has received preliminary approval to build and operate a 24-m unmanned vessel on Norwegian waters reports Felipe Lima, CEO at USEA Ocean Data. USEA develops a unique technology for seabed data acquisition with help of unmanned vessels and autonomous underwa- ter vehicles. Right after New Year came the preliminary validation that the company needed to build and operate a 24-meter unmanned vessel on Nor- wegian waters. USEA’s proprietary system for recharging and data transfer – the uLARS – is designed to secure fully automated launch and recovery of autonomous underwater vehicles, and also makes it possible for AUVs to connect to the unmanned vessel without the need for recovery to deck, dur- ing a seabed mapping campaign. This patented system is designed to enable the integration of autonomous underewater vehicles and unmanned vessels.

Photo courtesy USEA 38 January/February 2023

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