Fugro took delivery of the ship on 27 July 2012 . She is the third specially-designed , dedicated survey vessel delivered to Fugro and was planned to serve in the Asia-Pacific region . The ship was contracted to conduct a bathymetric survey in the southern Indian Ocean during the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 . The survey was needed to produce a bathymetric map of the sea floor of the search area , which was previously poorly mapped and largely uncharted and mountainous , before a phase of the search using a towed side-scan sonar vehicle and autonomous underwater vehicles which need to operate close to the seafloor . In August 2017 , it was announced that Fugro had been awarded the contract for that phase of the search and that '' Fugro Equator '' and sister ship '' Fugro Discovery '' would conduct the search ( with some assistance from Malaysian & Chinese naval vessels )
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
MV Fugro Equator