Japan Coast Guard’s new hydrographic survey vessels to feature Teledyne echosounders

The Japan Coast Guard (JCG) has contracted Teledyne to deliver multibeam echosounder packages for its two new-build hydrographic survey vessels.

Through its local representative Hydro Systems Development, Teledyne will supply its products for one 100-meter vessel and a smaller, 23-meter vessel.

Built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the 100 meter vessel will feature the HydroSweep DS full ocean depth (11,000 m) multibeam echosounder, a HydroSweep MD50 medium depth multibeam echosounder with 2,000 m max depth range, a SeaBat T50-R high-resolution shallow water multibeam echosounder with 575 m depth range, a SeaBat T50-P portable version for a survey launch, a RDI Workhorse Mariner 600kHz ADCP, a RDI OceanSurveyor 150kHz ADCP and an OceanScience rapidCAST auto-profiler for sound velocity casts.

According to Teledyne, the vessel is expected to be launched by March 2020.

The 23-meter ship will be built by Kiso Shipbuilding and will be ready by March 2018. It is designed for shallow and medium depth applications and will replace JCG’s existing vessel Hamashio.

It will be equipped with a SeaBat 7160 medium depth multibeam echosounder with 3,000 m depth range, a SeaBat T50-R IDH high-resolution shallow water multibeam echosounder with integrated dual-head transducer configuration for large coverage, an RDI Workhorse Mariner 600kHz ADCP and an RDI OceanSurveyor 150kHz ADCP.

The Japan Coast Guard (JCG) is engaged in a variety of maritime activities including hydrographic surveying and oceanographic research. The governmental organization operates a large fleet of more than 450 vessels. Among them are already 13 ships dedicated for hydrographic surveying.