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Swire Seabed Testing Unmanned Surface Vessel

image of the Maxlimer
Picture taken during transit to test field (ref. person onboard). Photo by Swire Seabed

Cluster member Swire Seabed is currently testing an Unmanned Surface Vessel – the USV Maxlimer, in the fjords of Bergen.

The Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) – carrying an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) has been testing its technology in the fjords of Bergen since the beginning of July. The test is performed by Swire Seabed on assignment from Equinor.

In 2018 GCE Ocean Technology contributed with pre-project funding for Swire Seabed to start developing this Unmanned Surface Vessel project.

Swire Seabed are reluctant to tell us much about the assignment as of yet, but can reveal that “…this is a test of concept utilizing remotely controlled USV and AUV for pipeline inspection purposes”.

Deep Sea Searches

Swire Seabed has among other things previously done assignments for the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) performing rock/soil sampling, AUV surveys and ROV operations to enhance NPD’s database for mineral exploitation. Furthermore, they have successfully completed a wide range of deep water recovery and incident response operations like recovering of the long- lost engines from NASA APOLLO 11 Space Program, and searching the Atlantic oceans for Air France 447.

We are looking forward to following the progress of the USV Maxlimer project between Swire Seabed and Equinor and learning more about this technology which might mean a new and more sustainable inspection method of underwater installations and technology.

Learn more about this project at our Subsea Innovation Day 16 September. This year’s focus will be on opportunities and challenges related to autonomy.

Learn more and register for Subsea Innovation Day.

Contact Information

Kai Stoltz

Business Development Manager

Kai Stoltz

Swire Seabed

Swire Seabed has a dependable track record for undertaking a wide range of subsea projects for the international oil & gas industry, as well as a range of challenging recovery and incident response operations through our team of highly experienced personnel both onshore and offshore.

Operations are managed from Swire Seabed’s head office in Bergen, Norway with operations in the Caspian Sea supported by an office in Baku. Swire Seabed is a fully-owned subsidiary of Swire Pacific Offshore (SPO).

The integration of Swire Seabed’s cutting-edge practical expertise into SPO’s robust global conglomerate ensures that Swire Seabed can deliver reliable offshore construction support, ROV and survey services to the Oil & Gas and renewables sectors worldwide. For details, please visit Swire Seabed.