NCS Survey has expanded its growing autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) fleet with the purchase of two Teledyne Gavia AUVs.
These vehicles are the latest in the Gavia Offshore Surveyor series and are equipped with high-resolution side scan sonar, a multi-beam echo sounder, a sub-bottom profiler, an ultra-short baseline positioning system, long baseline (LBL), GPS and an inertial navigation system. The AUVs are used to provide ultra-high-resolution data for pipeline and platform inspections; scour monitoring surveys; cable and pipe route surveys; and offshore wind farm surveys. For three years, NCS Survey has operated these vehicles in difficult access and remote areas including the southern tip of Argentina. Additionally, the company has a high level of repeat business from clients like Shell, BP and ConocoPhillips.
This purchase underlines NCS Survey’s position as the global leader in the use of portable AUVs in the offshore survey market as it now has the largest commercial fleet in the world. The vehicles are rated to 1000m but regularly operate in depths as shallow as 2m. They can perform in currents of more than 2 knots, under jackup drilling rigs and very close to fixed platform structures. Their modularity offers ease of transportation as no module weighs more than 25kg in its transit case.
“The addition of these Gavia AUVs to our fleet is a reflection of a growing demand from current and potential clients for AUV services in 2012,” said NCS Survey president Andy Gray. “As a global leader in the use of this equipment, we are constantly growing and expanding in accordance to our clients’ demands. This is an ideal representation of that.”
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Press release, January 29, 2013; Image: NCS Survey