Maridan A/S, the Danish research and manufacturing company and the new survey and subsea technology company, Century Subsea Ltd announce a major development in the AUV business. The two companies have decided to collaborate to provide AUV technology to the offshore industry. The first step in this collaboration is a letter of intent issued by Century Subsea to Maridan for the purchase of the 3,500 metre MARIDAN AUV and Maridan's nomination of Century as its Survey Operations Partner.

The MARIDAN AUV is an ideal fit in Century's vision of its service to its customers. Century Subsea is a new entrant in the offshore market. The company, formed in February 2000, will provide Survey and Subsea Remote systems technology. Century Subsea is placing an emphasis on providing innovative solutions for its customers in the international Oil & Gas and Marine Telecommunications Cable Industries. The company's objective is to deliver superior results at the seabed. Mark Vorenkamp, Century's managing director explained, ‘We are a new company focussed on employing the most effective technology to produce the optimum results for our customers without sacrificing cost effectiveness. I have long believed that the AUV would be the survey tool of the future and Maridan has demonstrated that this future is now the present.’

Jens Pind, managing director of Maridan, says ‘this enterprise will offer the industry quality, reliability, flexibility, and cost-efficiency in seabed survey. In Maridan we have already a worldwide record demonstrating the ability of our 'Yellow Submarine', MARIDAN in a variety of survey applications. A common enterprise based on the cooperation between Maridan and Century Subsea will set a new standard for subsea survey and Oil & Gas exploration.’

For further information contact: published in MarineTalk.com">Jens Pind, Maridan A/S