Fugro vessel diverted from scheduled tasking to monitor giant underwater volcano off Africa

A Fugro vessel heading from the Netherlands to South Africa has made a 10-day detour to support Ifremer, the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea, in monitoring a giant active underwater volcano in the Indian Ocean off the east coast of Africa.

Ifremer is performing important research on this unique volcano but the latest mission was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and associated travel restrictions.

When Fugro learned of the situation, it diverted the specialist hydrographic survey vessel Fugro Gauss to Mayotte in the Mozambique Channel to support Ifremer’s vital hydrographic survey.

Three hydrographic specialists from Fugro in Bremen, Germany, were responsible for offshore coordination and quality control, while Ifremer’s team of four were based in Brest, France. Collaboration between the two groups was done entirely via video conferencing.