Kongsberg Equipment Package for New Angolan Research Vessel

Kongsberg Maritime has been awarded a contract by Damen to provide a diverse, integrated technology solution for a new 74-metre fishery research vessel (FRV), which will be built at Damen Shipyards Galati, Romania.

The vessel is planned to be delivered to the owner, the Angolan Ministry of Fisheries in July 2018. The new vessel, designed by Skipsteknisk, uses Silent-A/F/R technology to ensure highly accurate survey results from the Kongsberg scientific package.

Supported by Kongsberg’s integrated technology, the Angolan Ministry of Fisheries’ advanced new vessel will be capable of diverse applications, including hydrographic survey, sub-bottom profiling, acoustics research, pelagic and demersal trawling, plankton, water, environmental and geographical sampling, oil recovery and emergency towage operations.

Kongsberg’s delivery is focused on design, engineering, equipment, material and services for the Integrated Bridge System, Dynamic Positioning System, marine ecosystem monitoring and seabed mapping.

The scientific package is based on a suite of integrated instruments that forms the basis of a de facto industry standard marine ecosystem monitoring system: Simrad EK80 Scientific Split Beam Echo Sounder, Simrad ME70 Scientific Multibeam System with Bathymetric Module, Simrad MS70 Scientific Multibeam 4D Sonar, Simrad SU90 Omnidirectional Sonar and Simrad PI and FX80 Trawl Monitoring System.

Furthermore, the vessel will be equipped with hydrographic systems; Kongsberg EM 122, 1×2 Degree Deepwater Multibeam Echo Sounder, Kongsberg SBP 120-3 Degree Sub-Bottom Profiler, KONGSBERG EM 712, 0.5×1 Degree Medium Depth Multibeam Echo Sounder and Kongsberg GeoPulse Plus Digital Sub-Bottom Profiler.

The complete Subsea package is synchronized by a Kongsberg K-Sync, 16-channel system to prevent interference between systems during multiple use of the various Subsea systems.

Positioning for the Subsea package is provided by the Kongsberg Seapath 330+ GNSS Dual Frequency Receiver (GPS/GLONASS) including a state-of-the-art MRU-5+ motion reference unit and the Kongsberg HiPAP 502 Acoustic Positioning System completes this versatile Subsea package.

“The delivery for Angola’s FRV is practically a standard fit for these types of vessels”, said Øystein Aasbø, area sales manager – Subsea/Underwater Mapping, Kongsberg Maritime. “Each product is class-leading, and when integrated on an advanced vessel design like this, the scientists on board will benefit from the most accurate and reliable hydrographic and marine ecosystem monitoring solution available in today’s market.”

Vessel operation will be managed by a Kongsberg K-Bridge Integrated Bridge System (IBS), with the Kongsberg K-Pos Dynamic Positioning system. This vessel will also have operational planning tools for research operations.