Road to full certification: Norwegian USV cleared to ditch support vessel

October 13, 2025, by Nadja Skopljak

Norway’s Reach Subsea has secured a trading permit to operate its Reach Remote 1 uncrewed surface vessel (USV) entirely through remote operations without a support vessel, marking an important step towards full certification.

The permit, issued by the Norwegian Maritime Authorities with technical validation and support from DNV, is said to initiate the final phase towards full certification.

According to Reach Subsea, this is the first approval of its kind for a USV of this size with integrated work-class ROV capability.

On October 11, Reach Remote 1 sailed off to continue work for Shell on the Ormen Lange field, now entirely on its own.

USV in action for TotalEnergies offshore Norway

Technology

“Since start of operations in April a support vessel has enabled human eyes to observe while demonstrating remotely controlled unmanned operations,” said Inge Grutle, COO at Reach Subsea. “Our people have proved that Reach Remote has equivalent or better maritime safety level and situational awareness compared to manned vessels, which is validated by DNV and NMA through this trading permit.”

In an announcement from a couple of days ago, the company reported that Reach Remote 2, delivered in June, had arrived in Perth, Australia, from Norway. After offloading at the Australian Marine Complex in Henderson, the 24-meter USV will start final preparations for operations in the Scarborough field for Woodside Energy.

With first two in operation, Reach Remote 3 and 4 USVs ordered from Kongsberg Maritime

Vessels

With the first two units in commercial operations, Reach Subsea announced at the end of September that it had exercised the first in a series of exclusive options with Kongsberg Maritime for the delivery of the next two USVs, Reach Remote 3 and 4.