Cimbria Subsea Services: Making Offshore Survey Data Workflows Faster, Safer, and More Efficient

Cimbria Subsea Services GmbH provides hydrographic and geophysical survey services for offshore energy and maritime projects, supporting operations across the North Sea, Baltic Sea and coastal environments.

As part of a larger group, Cimbria has exclusive access to offshore work vessels while also working with partners operating smaller workboats for shallow-water projects. Its survey capabilities include multibeam, side-scan sonar and single-tow magnetometer services, as well as supporting survey services.

Depending on the project, survey campaigns can range from just a few days to six weeks or even several months. This creates significant volumes of survey data: according to Cimbria, a two-week campaign alone can generate approximately 500–900 GB of data, depending on the number of systems and sensors involved.

With data being generated continuously offshore, Cimbria needed a workflow that would allow its onshore processing teams to access survey data quickly, collaborate efficiently and identify potential quality issues while vessels were still operating in the survey area.

Background: From Offshore Acquisition to Onshore Processing

During a typical multibeam survey, Cimbria collects raw echo-sounder data alongside information from positioning systems, motion sensors and other equipment. These datasets accumulate continuously throughout the survey operation.

Today, survey data can be uploaded at the end of each day via north.io's Ocean Data Platform, allowing Cimbria's onshore team to access, download and process the data from the office.

This creates a direct connection between offshore data acquisition and onshore processing, an important capability for projects where both time and data quality are critical.

The Challenge: Moving Large Survey Datasets Quickly and Securely

Before establishing its current workflow, Cimbria had several options for processing and transferring survey data. One approach required an additional specialist onboard the vessel to process the data directly offshore. Alternatively, data could be collected throughout the survey and physically transferred via hard drive for processing once the vessel returned. Other file-sharing services had also been used.

These approaches created several limitations:

Speed & Operational Efficiency

• Data stored on physical drives could only be processed once it reached the office
  
• An additional processing specialist could be required onboard
  
• Onshore teams had limited ability to review intermediate survey results
  
• Quality issues could potentially be identified only later in the project
  

Data Security

• Cimbria required a trusted environment for transferring sensitive customer and survey data
  
• Secure hosting in Germany or the EU was an important consideration
  
• Access to data needed to be controlled based on users and responsibilities
  
• Customer security policies increasingly require controlled data-transfer processes
  

Collaboration & Data Access

• Offshore and onshore teams needed efficient access to the same survey data
  
• Customers needed a simple way to access and download delivered datasets
  
• Multiple processing specialists needed the ability to work with project data when faster turnaround was required
  

Ultimately, Cimbria needed a solution that could move large datasets efficiently between offshore and onshore teams while providing a secure and controlled environment for both internal teams and customers.

The Solution: Ocean Data Platform by north.io

With north.io's Ocean Data Platform, Cimbria has established a cloud-based workflow connecting its offshore survey operations with its onshore processing team.

At the end of a survey day, collected data can be uploaded to the platform and made available to the onshore team for processing. Instead of requiring a dedicated processing specialist onboard, the work can be carried out from the office, and distributed across multiple team members to accelerate processing.

The platform also provides Cimbria with centralized access management, allowing the company to control who can view, edit or upload specific datasets. Customers can be granted access to review and download their project data directly.

Beyond data transfer, Cimbria also uses the platform's map functionality during early survey planning. Coordinate files can be uploaded to quickly understand where a prospective survey area is located and support an initial assessment of the expected scope and duration of a project.

From Faster Data Access to Earlier Quality Assurance

One of the most important benefits of this connected workflow is the ability to perform quality assurance while survey operations are still ongoing.

Cimbria's onshore team aims to process incoming data as quickly as possible and inform the offshore team when potential quality issues are identified – for example, missing positioning information, data gaps caused by vessel movement or areas where planned survey lines could not be followed correctly.

Because the vessel may still be operating nearby, affected lines or areas can potentially be surveyed again immediately.

This is particularly important for larger survey areas. Identifying an issue only at the end of a campaign could require significant additional transit time – or even an additional offshore mobilisation – to return to the affected location.

By connecting offshore acquisition with onshore processing, Cimbria can therefore identify potential problems earlier and react while the opportunity to correct them is still available.

Secure Data Exchange as a Competitive Requirement

For Cimbria, data security is not only an internal requirement – it is increasingly relevant to its customers as well.

The company highlighted that some clients require survey providers to demonstrate appropriate security policies and ensure that project data is not transferred through unapproved external portals or servers. These requirements can even form part of tender criteria.

The Ocean Data Platform gives Cimbria a controlled environment for exchanging survey data with internal teams and customers while meeting these increasingly important expectations around secure data handling.

As a result, secure data management becomes more than an IT consideration: it can directly support Cimbria's ability to meet customer requirements and participate in relevant tenders.

The Impact: Faster, More Flexible and More Secure Survey Operations

By using the Ocean Data Platform, Cimbria has created a workflow that allows survey data to move quickly from offshore operations to its onshore processing team.

The key benefits include:

• Faster processing: Data can be made available to the onshore team throughout a survey campaign instead of waiting for physical delivery.
  
• Earlier quality assurance: Potential data-quality issues can be identified while the vessel is still operating in or near the survey area.
  
• Greater flexibility: Processing no longer necessarily requires a dedicated specialist onboard the vessel.
  
• Scalable processing: Multiple team members onshore can work with the data when faster turnaround is required.
  
• Secure data exchange: Controlled access and secure data transfer support both Cimbria's own requirements and the security policies of its customers.
  
• Reduced operational risk: Earlier detection of survey gaps can help avoid additional transit or the need to return to a survey location after the campaign has been completed.

“The Ocean Data Platform has made our survey data workflows significantly faster, more flexible and more secure. Our onshore team can access and process data while operations are still ongoing, allowing us to identify potential quality issues early and respond while the vessel is still in the survey area. At the same time, the platform gives us a secure and controlled way to exchange large datasets with our teams and customers – which is becoming increasingly important for our projects.”
— Mona Luetjens, Head of Projects & Operations - Survey and Subsea Inspections Cimbria Subsea Services GmbH

As Cimbria continues to develop its digital survey workflows, the Ocean Data Platform provides a foundation for bringing offshore acquisition, onshore processing, quality assurance and secure customer delivery closer together.

Offshore survey data shouldn't slow down your operations.

When large survey datasets need to move quickly and securely between vessels, onshore processing teams and customers, north.io's Ocean Data Platform provides the infrastructure to connect the entire workflow.

From survey planning and secure data transfer to faster quality assurance and customer delivery, our ODP helps survey teams turn offshore data into actionable information – while operations are still underway.

👇Talk to north.io about Ocean Data Management