Activities
In June 2014, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) awarded Fugro, through its subsidiary '''Fugro Survey Pty. Ltd.''', the contract to conduct the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370,[16] despite the firm's "limited experience searching for wrecks on the ocean floor".[17] The initial contract was worth AUD$52 million, which Fugro won in a bid against several firms including Oceaneering International, Odyssey Marine Explorations and Blue Water Recoveries.[17] In August 2014 it was awarded an additional contract for the deployment of two specialist vessels.[18] Fugro had around 200 employees and 3 search vessels dedicated to the search for MH370.[19][20] In 2015, in the midst of the search, the company received many criticisms related to their methods and equipment.[16]
The Fugro Chance subsidiary, based in Louisiana, United States, provides services to the oil industry in the Gulf of Mexico including making available without cost underwater maps, current and historical, of pipeline courses, useful in the context of post-hurricane damage assessment and property assessment prior to leasing of underwater property from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).[4] Fugro Chance has also contracted with the United States Army Corps of Engineers to conduct airborne laser mapping toward the creation and updating of nautical charts and maps.[21] Fugro Geoservices, another firm which arose from a 1991 merger in Louisiana which is now based in Houston, Texas, provides boat-based underwater video, sonar, seismic, and magnetic sensing to firms engaged in oil and gas exploration and the aforementioned BOEM US government agency.[22] Fugro provides similar services in Canada, with the inclusion of remotely operated unmanned devices which have advantages of minimizing risks to crew of manned vessels, reducing data latency and increasing analysis speed.[12][13]
Rutherford County, Tennessee, contracted with Fugro Earthdata in 2004 to conduct the county's first digital mapping project.[23] The county has retained this Fugro subsidiary's services for orthoimagery, topographic mapping, and geographic information systems (GIS) through at least 2014.[23]
By 2015, "about 20" state departments of transportation in the United States had purchased and deployed "video- and laser-equipped vans" used to survey street pavement conditions, so-called "spider vans", from Fugro; the firm is one of several that manufacture such systems.[24]
In 2022 Fugro opened the Fugro SpAARC spacecraft mission control center in Perth, Australia.[25]
In 2023, Fugro, along with Australia's Defense Department, was involved in the search for the wreck of the SS Montevideo Maru which had sunk during WW2. The shipwreck was discovered off the northwest coast of Luzon Island, on 22 April 2023.[26][27] For the search, which started on 6 April, an autonomous underwater vehicle was used.[28]
