Adventure-seeking cruise ship passengers will be able to explore some pretty remote territory, thanks to a new kind of sonar developed by a Providence-based company.
FarSounder Inc., which provides a three-dimensional forward-looking marine sonar system, signed a contract Nov. 10 with New World Ship Management. FarSounder will provide navigational and obstacle-avoidance sonar systems on the 340-foot-long Clipper Odyssey and 330-foot Clipper Adventurer. The partnership represents the first time FarSounder has marketed their products in the passenger cruise ship market.
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“It is real-time 3-D sonar, so it shows a whole wide field of view of the ocean right in front of the vessel,” said FarSounder CEO Cheryl M. Zimmerman. “It’s almost like taking a flashlight and making the water disappear.”
FarSounder’s FS-3 sonar works where other less-advanced sonar systems have difficulty, Zimmerman said.
“It works very well in shallow areas where ships tend to have problems with grounding and other accidents,” Zimmerman said.
The technology is a perfect fit for the Clipper Cruise Line, which advertises being able to “reach your hand into the icy spray of an Alaskan waterfall – from the ship’s rail.”
Zimmerman said the ship’s sonar allows the adventure cruise ships to navigate remote locales that are uncharted or have very poor charts.
“A lot of the people that go on these adventures like to get very close to nature,” Zimmerman said. “(The sonar) gives the captain opportunities to bring passengers to areas that are very remote. And, of course, there’s added safety.”
The sonar creates a 3-D image of the seafloor and objects in the water with a single ping. The small, lightweight sonar can be installed on ships under construction, or retrofitted into existing vessels.
The Clipper Odyssey, which carries 128 passengers, and Clipper Adventurer, which carries 122 passengers, will be dry-docked to have the new sonar installed. The standard system’s software includes automated alarms, chart-plotting capabilities, GPS, a compass and depth sounder display capabilities.
Zimmerman said the six-person team at FarSounder began working on the technology seven years ago to address maritime accidents like the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaskan waters.
“We realized there was a need for navigationally significant sonar,” Zimmerman said.
Referring to the 2003 oil spill in Buzzard’s Bay, when a Bouchard Transportation Co. vessel struck rocky shoals and leaked thousands of gallons into the water, Zimmerman said FarSounder sonar is designed to keep incidents like that from happening.
“Sonar like ours would have been very appropriate to help prevent accidents like that,” Zimmerman said.
The FS-3 sonar would seem to be a great match for Clipper. Doug Bolnick, public relations manager for INTRAV and Clipper Cruise Line, said the ships travel to the Antarctic, Norway, New Zealand, and the remote Aleutian Islands.
While cruising the Aleutian Islands on July 31, the Clipper Odyssey struck a previously uncharted rock. While no one was injured, repairs took nearly six weeks to complete. The FS-3 is designed to prevent just such a mishap.
“The Clipper Adventurer is an oceangoing vessel equipped with an ice-strengthened hull for cruising in remote environments such as Antarctica,” said Captain Gary E. Welsh, vice president of Marine Operations of New World. “FarSounder sonar will enable the crew to offer our passengers a closer approach, especially in poorly charted areas.”
Variations of the sonars can also be used on submarines, remotely operated vehicles or autonomous underwater vehicles. The technology is also appropriate for security and defense uses.
The technology is slated to be installed onboard the Clippers next spring.
Zimmerman said FarSounder is speaking to several different branches of the government – including commerce, defense and security – about using the FS-3 on their equipment.
“We expect to have a lot of new projects to announce over the next few months,” Zimmerman said. Aside from the government, FarSounder is also pitching their product to the mega-yacht, offshore oil vessel and inland barge markets.
“All these major markets have discovered us at the same time,” Zimmerman said.
FarSounder will be exhibiting at the International Workboat Show in New Orleans for Dec. 1 to 3.
