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www.seadiscovery.com NEW YORK 118 E. 25th St., New York, NY 10010 Tel: (212) 477-6700; Fax: (212) 254-6271 FLORIDA 215 NW 3rd St., Boynton Beach, FL 33435 Tel: (561) 732-4368; Fax: (561) 732-6984 PUBLISHER John C. O'Malley jomalley@ marinelink.com Associate Publisher & Editor Gregory R. Trauthwein trauthwein@ marinelink.com Contributing Editors Capt. Edward Lundquist, USN (Ret.) • Steve Withrow Claudio Paschoa • Andrew Safer Production Manager Irina Tabakina tabakina@ marinelink.com Sales Administration & Office Manager Rhoda Morgan morgan@ marinelink.com Sales & Event Coordinator Michelle Howard mhoward@ marinelink.com Manager, Accounting Services Rhoda Morgan morgan@ marinelink.com Manager, Public Relations Mark O’Malley momalley@ marinelink.com Manager, Marketing Jocelyn Redfern jredfern@ marinelink.com Manager, Information Technology Services Vladimir Bibik bibik@ marinelink.com CIRCULATION Kathleen Hickey mtrcirc@ marinelink.com ADVERTISING Vice President, Sales and Marketing Rob Howard howard@ marinelink.com Tel: (561) 732-4368 • Fax: (561) 732-6984 Advertising Sales Manager Lucia M. Annunziata annunziata@ marinelink.com Tel: (212) 477-6700 • Fax: (212) 254-6271 Mike Kozlowski kozlowski@ marinelink.com Tel: (561) 733-2477 • Fax: (561) 732-9670 Japan Katsuhiro Ishii • amskatsu@ dream.com Tel: +81 3 5691 3335 • Fax: + 81 3 5691 3336 W hile April 2011 is our traditional Offshore Annual, it is not fitting to start this space without discussing the massive earthquake and resulting tsunami which has wreaked havoc and inflicted a tremendous loss of life, property and created a looming nuclear disaster in Japan last month. I, like many of you, watched in disbelief and awe at the sheer power of Mother Nature, and while it is indeed a tragedy, to me it high- lights more than ever the critical work that you do every day in the subsea sector, work that greatly enhances the world’s knowledge of the portion of the earth’s surface that we cannot see, helping to better understand and predict these events in the future. As this is the “offshore” edition, I think you will find a more buoyant mood in the sector if you plan to attend the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston next month. $100+ per barrel of oil seems tends to make the offshore industry swoon (and the consumer curse!) The strong market has been lifted further by a quick string of deepwater permit approvals from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, a move applauded by the industry as the Gulf of Mexico gets back to the business of drilling for oil and gas in the wake of last year’s Deepwater Horizon blow out and oil spill. A report on page 8 from IMA Associates offers a particularly bullish outlook for the Floating Production Systems, estimating an additional 120 to 175 units in the coming five years, dominated by activity to and from Brazil. In the past few months I’ve had the opportunity to visit with two vastly different compa- nies with business in the subsea sector: Polarcus in its Dubai headquarters, and Graham Hawkes in his workshop just across the bay from San Francisco. The latter, Hawkes, is sure- ly a familiar name to most of you, as he has made a career of pushing commonly accepted boundaries with his underwater flying vehicles. Late last year Hawkes signaled his intention to re-enter the commercial space via Hawkes Remotes, designing and building a new family of ROVs designed to swim at full ocean depth. This story starts on page 28. The latter, Polarcus, is a new name to the industry, just three years old but maturing fast. Executive Vice President Peter Zickerman explains how his company has invested nearly $1.4 billion in a fleet of state-of-the-art seismic survey vessels, outfitted and sized to meet most any need, to capture a significant portion of this business going forward. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the pub- lishers. Marine Technology Reporter ISSN 1559-7415 is published monthly except for February, August, and December by New Wave Media, 118 E. 25th St., New York, NY 10010- 2915. Periodicals Postage at New York, NY and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to MARINE TECHNOLOGY REPORTER, 118 E. 25th St., New York, NY 10010-2915. Postmaster send notification (Form 3579) regarding undeliverable magazines to Marine Technology Reporter, 118 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010. Publishers are not responsible for the safekeeping or return of editorial material. ©2011 New Wave Media. 118 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 477-6700; fax: (212) 254-6271 Vol. 54 No. 3 ISSN 1559-7415 USPS# 023-276 www.seadiscovery.com Member Gregory R. Trauthwein • trauthwein@ marinelink.com • tel: 212-477-6700 Subscription: To subscribe please visit www.seadiscovery.com/subscribe editorial (Photo Cr edit: Polar cus) 6 MTR April 2011
