Kongsberg Strengthens Its Work in Underwater Inspection and Monitoring Market

Kongsberg Strengthens Its Work in Underwater Inspection and Monitoring Market

Kongsberg Maritime has acquired 100% of the shares in Embient GmbH, an independent provider of engineered services, and state-of-the-art equipment and solutions to the marine, science and engineering sectors.

The acquisition will strengthen Kongsberg Maritime’s scope of deliveries to the underwater inspection and monitoring market. Embient will be integrated into the Subsea Division of Kongsberg Maritime and will become a subsidiary to the current Kongsberg Maritime operation in Hamburg, Germany.

Embient was established in 2010 with focus on technology sourcing and integration of subsea technologies into complete packages and solutions. Over the last three years the company has developed a strong in-house competence within underwater inspection and monitoring, as well as on subsea leak detection. With its office close to Hamburg, Germany, the company currently has 10 employees.

Kongsberg Maritime also acquires 10% of the shares and enters into a cooperation agreement with CONTROS Systems & Solutions GmbH. CONTROS was established in 2006 and is based in Kiel, Germany. The company develops, produces and markets underwater sensor systems to detect dissolved gasses such as hydrocarbons, CO2 and oxygen, as well as pH. Over the past years, CONTROS has built a strong reputation as a provider of complete systems for offshore early leak detection and environmental monitoring.

Embient and CONTROS have strong working relationships with renowned universities and research institutes, and are thus well positioned to maintain technology leadership and to support Kongsberg Maritime’s development of subsea monitoring solutions.

“With the acquisition of Embient, we strengthen our ability to provide our customers with turn-key solutions for structural inspection and monitoring, for which we see an increased demand in several markets, including offshore renewables and offshore oil and gas,” comments Bjørn Jalving, EVP Kongsberg Maritime Subsea. “Embient has strong knowledge in acoustic leak detection. Combined with the CONTROS cooperation agreement and KONGSBERG’s sensors and solutions, this will provide our customers across the industries with state of the art integrated leak detection and leading edge environmental monitoring systems. With our global presence, we service our customers locally and ensure their success.”

“We are proud to become part of Kongsberg Maritime, a global technology company well-known for its extensive portfolio of state-of-the-art, high performance products and solutions. As part of Kongsberg Maritime, we will continue to focus on solving customers’ requirements and deliver high quality systems and solutions for the subsea inspection and monitoring markets. I believe Embient and Kongsberg Maritime are a good fit and the team here is looking forward to this exciting opportunity,” says Sören Theman, CEO Embient GmbH.

“CONTROS will continue to market dissolved gas sensors, early leak detection and environmental monitoring systems as an independent company but the cooperation agreement with Kongsberg Maritime enables enhanced integration of our sensor suite with KONGSBERG’s variety of leading edge platforms and early leak detection systems. We at CONTROS look forward to this cooperation and the opportunities that it will produce,” states Daniel Esser, CEO at CONTROS.

Kongsberg, December 6, 2013