French vessel owner and offshore services provider Bourbon and Kongsberg Maritime now signed a strategic agreement of collaborative development on connected and autonomous vessels.

The two companies said they will execute joint projects to develop new ways of efficient operations in the offshore services industry. They will explore and implement technical and digital solutions to improve safety and optimize cost of operations while enhancing the level of operational excellence.

Under the agreement Kongsberg will enable Bourbon to efficiently gain access to high quality aggregated data from the vessels and develop new ways of operating the vessels. Bourbon will enable Kongsberg to better understand client operations and get access to a wide range of data from its fleet, from communication, to cyber security, storage and management of vessel data.

“A major transformation is underway in the Oil & Gas industry. Having entered the new digital era, our customers are asking us for more services at optimized cost. We are very happy and confident that this partnership with Kongsberg will result in innovative solutions allowing us to answer these customer needs,” says Gael Bodénès, chief operating officer of Bourbon Corporation.

“Digitalization is vital to achieving greater efficiencies on board single vessels and entire fleets,” said Stene Førsund, EVP global sales and barketing, Kongsberg Maritime. “By working closely with leading offshore marine companies like Bourbon, we can ensure our solutions meet the data needs of the industry today, while building a foundation for greater vessel autonomy in the future.”