MV Fugro Equator

The Fugro Equator in the Southern Indian Ocean during the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
Name: MV Fugro Equator
Owner: Fugro Equator Inc.[1]
Operator: Fugro Survey Pte Ltd[1]
Port of registry: Nassau, Bahamas[1]
Completed: 2012[1]
In service: 27 July 2012[2]
Identification:
Status: In active service
General characteristics
Type: Survey vessel
Tonnage: 1917 t (gross)[1]
Length: 65.65 m[1]
Beam: 14.0 m [1]
Draught: 4.20 m[1]
Installed power: 3x910 kW diesel generators[1]
Propulsion:
  • 2 × 1100 kW rudder propellers (electric)
  • 400 kW bow thruster (electric)[1]
Speed: 12.5 knots (max cruising)[1]
Capacity: 42 persons[1]

MV Fugro Equator is a survey vessel owned and operated by Dutch company Fugro to provide a range of offshore survey capabilities.

History

Fugro took delivery of the ship on 27 July 2012. She is the third specially-designed, dedicated survey vessel delivered to Fugro and was planned to serve in the Asia-Pacific region.[2]

The ship was contracted to conduct a bathymetric survey in the southern Indian Ocean during the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. The survey was needed to produce a bathymetric map of the sea floor of the search area, which was previously poorly mapped and largely uncharted and mountainous, before a phase of the search using a towed side-scan sonar vehicle and autonomous underwater vehicles which need to operate close to the seafloor.[4] In August, it was announced that Fugro had been awarded the contract for that phase of the search and that Fugro Equator and sister ship Fugro Discovery would conduct the search (with some assistance from Malaysian & Chinese naval vessels).[5][6]

Equipment

The ship has digital seismic, acoustic, seabed, and sub-seabed mapping equipment as well as a dedicated Hugin 1000 autonomous underwater vehicle (capable of reaching 3000 m depths).[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "M.V. Fugro Equator" (PDF). fugro.sg. Fugro. 2012. Retrieved 9 August 2014.
  2. 1 2 "M/V Fugro Equator - Delivery of new build Survey Vessel". Fugro. 30 July 2012. Retrieved 9 August 2014. On 27 July 2012, Fugro formally took delivery of a new-build vessel, M/V Fugro Equator
  3. ↑ "FUGRO EQUATOR". Marinetraffic.com. Retrieved 9 August 2014.
  4. ↑ Escritt, Thomas (19 June 2014). "Dutch survey vessel begins mapping ocean floor to aid hunt for MH370". Reuters. Reuters. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
  5. ↑ Thomas, Geoffrey (20 June 2014). "MH370 search shifts south". Yahoo! News Australia. The West Australian. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
  6. ↑ "Contractor Announced for MH370 Underwater Search". JACC. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
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