Current Project/Initiative

Project Executor: Bob Sheen, Ocean Shipholdings, Inc., phone # 281-579-3700, Mike Bohlman, CSXLines, phone # 908-820-7420

Operations Committee Contact: Bob Sheen, Ocean Shipholdings, Inc., phone # 281-579-3700

Collisions with underwater obstacles continue to pose a significant risk to shipping. While radar can detect most obstacles above the sea surface, it has little or no capability to warn ship operators about the presence of shoals, reefs, icebergs, whales, lost shipping containers, and other underwater obstacles. Recent developments in materials science and computers have made possible the development of affordable and effective forward-looking sonar. Pyrcon, LLC is a 3-year-old start-up spun off the University of Rhode Island. Pyrcon is developing a forward-looking sonar that can detect the presence of underwater obstacles out to 2 nautical miles. The sonar will be wet-installable on the bow of large commercial vessels. This multi-beam phase-array sonar can provide a map of bottom depth that could be useful for navigating in risky harbors. SOCP members are currently looking at evaluating this new technology on their vessels to reduce the risk of coming in contact with underwater obstacles.

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