Autonomous vessels startup Saronic, Austin, Texas, on Thursday announced it has entered into a strategic partnership with offshore services company Hornbeck Offshore Services Inc., Covington, La., to develop and deploy autonomous maritime platforms, advanced software, and related solutions for the energy, defense, and offshore services markets.
Under the agreement, the companies plan to pursue commercial solutions supporting offshore services and energy operations, including pilot projects involving Saronic’s 180' autonomous ship, Marauder, according to Saronic press release. The collaboration will also assess how Saronic’s autonomous technologies could be applied across Hornbeck’s operations, including voyage planning, service delivery, fleet management and predictive maintenance, with the goal of improving safety, situational awareness, endurance, and operational efficiency in complex offshore environments, the company added.
By combining Hornbeck’s experience in deepwater energy and defense operations with Saronic’s autonomous and unmanned systems expertise, the companies aim to develop scalable, autonomy-enabled offshore service concepts applicable to a range of mission profiles, Saronic said.
“At Saronic, we focus on building technology that improves outcomes and reduces risk in high-complexity maritime environments,” said Dino Mavrookas, co-founder and CEO of Saronic. “Our autonomous maritime capabilities can increase the safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of offshore operations. Through our partnership with Hornbeck, we will work to responsibly deploy autonomous maritime systems to improve offshore service delivery — advancing energy security, and, in turn, economic and national security.”
Todd Hornbeck, chairman, president, and CEO of Hornbeck Offshore, said, “Hornbeck Offshore has long been guided by our mission to deliver innovative, high-quality, value-added business solutions. Saronic is a proven leader in applying emerging autonomous technologies to marine operations. Together, our missions are aligned and we’re charting a future where AI-enabled capabilities can augment service-delivery across commercial and defense markets, creating safer operations for our crews, greater efficiency, and new value for our customers.”
