Rovco, a UK-based subsea robotics and survey firm, has added a second hull mounted survey vessel to its fleet with the long-term charter of the DP2 vessel Glomar Worker.
The four-year charter with Glomar comes in response to client demand for innovative geophysical and geotechnical survey solutions, according to the company.
Rovco has started the conversion of the sister vessel to the already contracted Glomar Supporter, already under long-term charter.
After completion of these role specific upgrades, the vessel will launch as a specialized and dedicated geophysical survey asset to serve the offshore wind market.
Rovco’s newest survey vessel will be equipped with a hull mounted gondola and the highest specification sensor package, along with additional stern and starboard A-Frames to allow deployment of specialist towed survey equipment and multi sensor towing.
Worker and her sister, Supporter, will now both enable full site data capture with seamless integration across data sets for temporal comparisons. Starlink and VSAT ship to ship and ship to shore communications will permit live streaming for real time decision making and the movement of some roles onshore.
The Worker will also be equipped with an Autonomous Surface Vessel (ASV) operating as a force multiplier.
Both vessels have permanently mobilized WROVs, enabling the completion of survey and inspection tasks in field, without return to port or the need for additional vessels in field.
“Our objective is to facilitate the offshore wind sector through the development and deployment of automated offshore wind services that aid the engineering, design construction, maintenance and performance of offshore wind farms,” said Marc Coull, Rovco’s Director of Operations and Maintenance.