JFD, the submarine rescue and diving equipment specialist and part of James Fisher and Sons, UK, reports it has received positive feedback from DOF Subsea, Norway, following the first major offshore dive for its new deep-diving rebreather, COBRA (Compact Bailout Rebreathing Apparatus).

A spokesman said: “Earlier this year, JFD released COBRA into the market to replace conventional scuba bailout methods, providing divers with a greatly extended supply of breathing gas in the event of a primary supply failure. Last month, following extensive testing, COBRA was granted full CE marking status, making it the only approved system of its kind to achieve NORSOK U101 and EN14143 standards. As such, COBRA leads the way in terms of safety and functionality.”

Upon delivery of their new COBRA systems, DOF Subsea divers and technicians received familiarity and maintenance training from JFD on board the dive support vessel Skandi Singapore before embarking on a saturation diving project to 270 metres in Australia.

“At these extreme depths, traditional bailout systems would offer the divers less than three minutes of emergency breathing gas, whereas the COBRA system provides 20 minutes minimum duration for this depth, offering the diver a greatly extended opportunity to return safely to the diving bell,” said the spokesman.

COBRA has been designed and developed by JFD to reduce a diver’s gas usage by effectively recycling the diver’s breath, removing carbon dioxide and injecting a flow of fresh breathing gas to replace the oxygen consumed. “COBRA can be tested at any time, giving divers vital reassurance through the single turn activation valve on the helmet. This allows the diver to mechanically switch COBRA on and off as a pre-dive check,” the spokesman said.

He added that the divers were satisfied with the set’s performance during the dive and JFD received extremely positive feedback with regards to ease of use, comfort, practicality and the greatly improved safety benefits offered by the system.

“COBRA marks a step change in diver safety by improving the chances of survival for a diver when disconnected from his primary supply, a hugely relevant issue in the industry. It is believed that COBRA will be adopted globally as standard for all saturation divers at all depths, not just for deeper diving,” he said.

Kongsberg Maritime, Norway, has announced the limited availability of a new turnkey HUGIN package featuring the AUV and all systems needed to store, transport, launch, operate and recover it from survey operations anywhere in the world.

“As a turnkey solution, the package provides significant cost-savings for organisations seeking to expand their AUV capabilities for diverse applications, from commercial surveying and pipeline inspection through to marine and climate research,” said the company. “At the heart of the package is a sophisticated HUGIN AUV with a 1000-metre depth rating, dive time of up to 12 hours as standard and a maximum speed of five knots.”

The HUGIN AUV comes pre-installed with an extensive payload of navigation, communication and hydroacoustic equipment, including a Kongsberg EM 3002 multibeam echosounder, EdgeTech (USA) sidescan sonar and EdgeTech sub-bottom echosounder. The complete package also includes a 20-foot (six-metre) storage and shipping container, single stage stinger for easy launch and recovery, operator station, battery charger and tow fish and winch for communication.

“Although many HUGIN AUVs are delivered as turnkey solutions on a customised basis, this is the first time we have offered a HUGIN AUV as a pre-defined package with everything ready to go,” explained Richard Mills, Kongsberg’s director of sales, marine robotics. “While providing significant cost savings, the customer can also be confident that the package provides high-end capabilities for multiple applications, backed-up by Kongsberg’s expertise and global support network.”

UK-based subsea consulting firm Namaka Subsea reports the launch of DiveDESIGN, “the latest product release for DiveCert which populates a ‘live’ IMCA DESIGN document within seconds”.

Diving contractors are required to provide a ‘live’ IMCA DESIGN document containing evidence that specific testing and maintenance has been completed following IMCA guidance. DiveDESIGN, in conjunction with DiveCert, can produce the required IMCA DESIGN document at the click of a button, according to Namaka Subsea.

“DiveDESIGN connects to any DiveCert diving system database and collects the required information on testing and maintenance. The required information is then inserted to the system specific IMCA DESIGN document which is supported by the associated documentation, linked directly from the live DESIGN document,” the company explained.

Namaka’s sales and marketing manager, Lee Duncan, added: “DiveDESIGN is our latest innovation for improving the safety of diving operations. Not only will it save the contractor many man-hours populating their live DESIGN document, but it also assists identifying whether testing and maintenance has been completed correctly during client audits.

“This means that the client can audit the status of the diving system maintenance and testing without even visiting the vessel. The development of such an application is a very exciting time for the company as it allows the industry to progress with safety and efficiency within the offshore sector.”