Leading integrated subsea and offshore solutions provider Unique Group has signed an agreement to acquire five Unmanned Surface Vessels (USV) DriX units from French high-technology company iXblue, marking a significant investment in the Group’s global portfolio of survey products, increasing its autonomous offshore offerings.
With an aim to continually introduce latest cutting-edge technology for offshore survey operations, Unique Group’s new addition is designed for a wide range of tasks such as geophysical and hydrographic surveys, touchdown monitoring of pipelines, subsea positioning, and ROV/AUV tracking.
DriX, with its long endurance, increased hydrodynamics and flexible sensor payload, can significantly improve the efficiency of offshore operations and act as a true force multiplier in the marine renewables sector as well as subsea construction, IRM and decommissioning in the oil & gas markets.
The acquired units will be strategically placed within Unique Group’s global rental pool and accessible to clients across the Middle East, Europe, South East Asia and the Americas.
Harry Gandhi, CEO at Unique Group commented: “We’re extremely delighted to add DriX to our ever-expanding inventory of USVs. DriX has proven to be a real game changer in the offshore market and been used across many successful subsea positioning and bathymetry missions.
“We look forward to the prospect of further developing our partnership with iXblue in the future.”
Sébastien Grall, Head of iXblue Shipyard Division further added, “Since its launch in the offshore and hydrographic markets, DriX has been met with incredible success and positive feedbacks. With outstanding seakeeping capabilities, the USV has set a new standard in the industry of surface drones. This agreement with Unique Group is another endorsement of the added value DriX brings to subsea operations and we now look forward to seeing the units in use across various industries for survey, offshore, marine sciences as well as hydrographic operations.”
