CANBERRA, Australia - A Dutch contractor will conduct the underwater search for the Malaysian airliner that crashed off the Australian coast in March, Australia announced Wednesday.

Fugro Survey Pty. Ltd. will use two vessels towing underwater vehicles equipped with side-scan sonar, multi-beam echo sounders and video equipment to search for the missing Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777, Transport Minister Warren Truss said.

Furgo, which has a base in the west coast city of Perth where the search for the airliner had been headquartered, won a tender process conducted by Australia on Malaysia's behalf.

The search is expected to begin in mid-September and take up to a year to scour 60,000 square kilometres of the Indian Ocean seabed.

Truss said a 12-month search would cost about 52 million Australian dollars ($48 million), but less if the wreckage were found earlier.

"I remain cautiously optimistic that we will locate the missing aircraft within the priority search area," Truss told reporters.