Chris Ransome & Associates Inc. (d.b.a. CRA), a Texas Corporation, is a specialized surveying firm using the latest automated data acquisition systems. CRA was established in Houston in 1987 by a team consisting of experienced land and offshore surveyors who pioneered the use of automated computer-based radio positioning and later, satellite positioning systems for hydrographic surveys in the coastal civil engineering and environmental markets. Today, CRA is the premier supplier of underwater surveying services along the Texas Coast and is expanding into several new markets including the latest generation of fixed laser and mobile LIDAR systems on land.
In addition to working for clients throughout the USA, CRA surveys most of the private docks on the Houston Ship Channel, as well many other docks along the Texas coast in the ports of Freeport, Texas City, and Beaumont/Port Arthur/Orange. With five vessels of their own, CRA has also added a number of new techniques and disciplines to better serve their cents. These include the new multibeam swath bathymetry systems, above water mobile LIDAR laser scanning systems, underwater sediment sampling, and underwater facilities inspection using high resolution sonars. CRA is responsible for putting on the annual "Dredging Your Docks" seminar, a joint venture with Orion Marine Group, a dredging contractor based out of Houston, Texas. The seminar is an informative public event supported by the Port of Houston, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Houston Pilots.