MH370 (cont.)

The remarkable thing with Ocean Infinity is that all their stuff appears to be brand new and never used in all their pictures and in the only one video that's on their YouTube channel, and that all I've came across about them dates after january 2017.

Is there anyone who stumbled over any info about Ocean Infinity from before 2017 ?

The Norwegian research vessel Seabed Constructor is leased by Ocean Infinity, didn't check since when, or if this started just before this job, or if it's in fact just for this job.

- When and where and by who was Ocean Infinity founded ?
- Who are the shareholders of Ocean Infinity ?
- Who are the financiers of this MH370 search, and who bears the financial risk of this project ?
- Was Ocean Infinity especially founded for this assignment ?
- Is there any Ocean Infinity company address known in Houston*, and how does it look ?

* I'm almost certain the big city in Texas is meant in this case, but haven't seen that specified anywhere, and since there's also a Houston in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, it's not 100% sure Houston Texas is meant when this is not specified as such.​

Their CEO Oliver Plunkett is based in London UK according to his Linked-in profile, comes from some financial and accountancy background, and started as Ocean Infinity CEO in january 2017, it says.

Oliver Plunkett, Ocean Infinity CEO, Linked-in profile photo.​

Their Operations Director Melanie Smith is also based in the UK according to her Linked-in profile, she's educated as a chartered financial planner, and is Director of Operations at Ocean Infinity since january 2016, it says.

​

Melanie Smith, Ocean Infinity Director of Operations, Linked-in profile photo.​

Melanie Smith (center) Ocean Infinity Operations Director, Ocean Infinity team photo.​

Don't know about the rest of the team, since I didn't check.

Oliver can be seen in the below video while signing the MH370 search deal, in the below picture he's the one with the same glasses as above, who's here presenting the deal folder to the camera...



Malaysia to pay US firm up to S $ 93.4 (US $ 70) million if it finds MH370 in 90 days - The Straits Times - Jan 10, 2018

​

 

MI - 6 ? Lots of secret stuff when financial professionals start deep sea searching !

 

A bit more information about Ocean Infinity and Seabed Constructor here --

A fantastical ship has set out to seek Malaysian Airlines flight 370 | The Economist

The Wikipedia article on MH370 gives a detailed synopsis of the loss and search.

 

Ship tracking sites like VesselFinder and MarineTraffic don't provide AIS position updates of the Seabed Constructor anymore, since 4 & 5 Jan. 2018.

- Maybe the Seabed Constructor is out of reach of the AIS satellites . . ?
- Or the Seabed Constructor has a broken AIS transmitter . . ?
- Or the ship has her AIS shut down on purpose . . ?
- Or the ship has somehow disappeared . . ?
- Or the ship tracking sites don't work properly anymore . . ?
- Or have I missed or misunderstood something . . ?​

Below two copy pastes of the info these ship tracking sites provide, as taken at the time of this posting:

VesselFinder: Seabed Constructor IMO: 9682148, MMSI: 257224000 - (single link)

Quote: last received position is 30.34678 S / 31.42778 E on Jan 04, 2018 at 19:07 UTC

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MarineTraffic: Seabed Constructor IMO: 9682148 - MMSI: 257224000 - (double links, which give the same info)

Latest Position: IMO: 9682148 - MMSI: 257224000 - (double links, which give the same info)

Quote:

Position Received: 2018-01-05 01:15 UTC
Vessel's Time Zone: UTC +6
Area: SAFR - South Africa
Latitude / Longitude: -31.4929104° / 32.2453995°
Status: Underway Using Engine
Speed/Course: 13.9kn / 147°
AIS Source: Satellite ZS5YAT​

 

Which also gives a link to a main article about the search: - Search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 - Wikipedia

 

I could speculate that Seabed Constructor is now on-site and starting to search. I could also speculate that if/when Seabed Constructor finds anything of interest, she will start doing some sort of criss-cross pattern, which would inform interested parties that she's found something. Maybe she doesn't want potential pirate salvors to know the exact location of MH370 until the proper authorities have been notified and the location secured.

 

They probably don’t want to give away their tactical approach; distances between passes; criss crossing, etc.

 

Yes, I also thought they might be in the search area by now. That's why I've tried to check on their position. But I've found that this public info is a secret now.

However AIS is a obligated safety system for them, as well as for all other commercial shipping. So I wonder if they're allowed to shut it down. And if so, which authority give them permission to do so . . ?

It's always better to communicate about these kind of things.

If you're gonna shut down AIS, then just say so and why, and how safety is solved in this situation, maybe such as it's not really busy there . . .

And tell which authority gave the permission on which grounds.

This is far better then people getting to speculate about these kind of things in such a high profile operation, since the lack of AIS is very soon noticed.

 

They can fly flags. Doesn’t their operation require all other vessels to give way by colregs?

 

Give way is easier if others know where they are, and AIS alerts all other ships for this.

But if AIS is switched off, then all other ships in the surroundings could be extra alert on their other equipment if they know there's an operation going on with their AIS switched off.

In this Seabed Constructor case, if AIS is switched off for good reasons, then it would be better and safer if other shipping knows about it, and this wouldn't hurt the search operation, I believe.

Collisions* between Naval Ships among each other, and Naval Ships vs. Commercial Shipping, are often caused by the for understandable reasons almost standard Navy switch off of all systems that alert others.

* Just one example of the many . . .​

Here's an NYT article, and the US Navy Reports ^PDF on the USS Fitzgerald (in the above pics), and the USS John S McCain, the USS Destroyer collisions in 2017, with the Container Ship Acx Crystal, and the Oil & Chemicals Tanker Alnic Mc.

 

You are preaching to a choir Angel. We all agree, but MI-6 doesn’t.

 

Yes, I'll guess so, but just in case someone of the search crew ever pops into this page I'll quote some lines from the above mentioned US Navy Reports ^PDF about some recent accidents...

USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) - - PDF page 22 of 72​

‘‘ Did not utilize the Automated Identification System. This system provides real time updates of commercial ship positions through use of the Global Positioning System. ’’

USS John S McCain (DDG 56) - - PDF page 65 of 72​

‘‘ Supervisory watch stations reported that the Automated Identification System (AIS) representation of contacts was cluttered and “useless”. Commercial traffic routinely reports positions via this system, enabling other vessels to use Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite information to accurately determine their positions. ’’

Well, besides the financial professionals on board, I would expect the Seabed Constructor to have a professional Captain, so I'll still take the below option from post #49 into account . .

 

Seabed Constructor's last reported position on the mentioned ship tracking sites is still the same today as in the above post #49, so till now there are no AIS signals received, or only not publicly reported, since Jan 5, 2018.

However there's now an Ocean Infinity update, they report to have arrived at the search area exactly on the day I've looked for them, and they're searching since then, with no results yet till the report date...

‘‘ . . . The vessel Seabed Constructor arrived at the search area on 21 January 2018 and launched the first Autonomous Underwater Vehicle . . . Total area covered as of 28 January 2018 is 4500 square kilometres . . . No significant contacts identified to date . . . ’’

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On the below linked websites it says they will post weekly reports during the current search effort.

Ocean Infinity ---> MH370 ---> Report 1 Feb. 1, 2018 ---> Full Report 1 PDF ¹

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Government of Malaysia ---> MH370 Official Site ---> MH370 Underwater Search 2018



MH370 - OCEAN INFINITY SIGNING CEREMONY - 10 JANUARY 2018 PDF

MH370 Ocean Infinity 2018 Search Area PDF

MH370 2018 Search Weekly Report 1 PDF ¹ MH370 OPERATIONAL SEARCH UPDATE #1 Period 21-28 JANUARY 2018

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¹ = 2 × the same PDF​

 

currently in port http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-08/mh370-search-ship-seabed-constructor-docks-fremantle/9407502

 

"The vessel has been the subject of intense internet speculation after it mysteriously turned off its transponder while at sea, prompting observers to question where it was and what it was doing."