Page 25 - NORWAY EXPORTS Maritime 2017-18

of a part for a broken pipe. The whole From ships to offshore DNV GL foresees drones will save
process took only one minute from Another trend in the maritime sector has operators signifi cant costs related to the
mounting the package to drop off for the been the move from land-based surveys of erection of staging and rafting (the process
500-metre fl ight. ships at yards to waters farther offshore. of fi lling a cargo tank with water to give the
This August, Norwegian company DNV GL surveyor access by rubber boat). During its
Johansen foresees that the industry could used camera-equipped drones to survey fi rst production survey on chemical tanker
save up to $575 billion from last mile semisubmersible vessel Safe Scandinavia MV Apollo in 2016, German shipowner
deliveries of cash, medicines, documents, in the North Sea for Statoil’s drilling Carl Büttner Ship Management saved 2-3
and spare parts to vessels using drones operations on the Oseberg East fi eld. days – representing 14,000-28,000 – on
rather than launch boats. Nearly one- inspecting 14 tanks.
third of Wilhelmsen’s parcel deliveries The assignment marked the fi rst offshore
involve packages weighing less than fi ve drone survey by a classifi cation company. “Imagine a tank of 30,000 cubic metres,”
kilograms. Drones would not only save The drones braved wind speeds of said Cezary Galinski, DNV GL project
costs from not having to hire launch approximately 15 knots under the main manager for maritime classifi cation fl ying
boats, but also avoid the safety concerns deck to check the condition of the fairleads squad, based in Poland. “To fi ll it up and
when personnel climb up from the launch and their connections to the columns that maintain various inspection levels leads
boat to the vessel just to hand over the hold up the vessel, saving both time and to signifi cant costs for pumping and
package. money. discharge of water.”

“It’s basically ineffi cient in the current “Normally this kind of operation would Another plus from using drones is that
market chain and the safety related risks cause disruption to our client for several there is no damage to the tank coating
are assumed higher using launch boats days,” said Ian Young, Prosafe chief from staging, are more fl exible to use,
than using drones,” said Johansen. operating offi cer. “The drone survey took and improve safety for surveyors. DNV
only a few hours and was just as effective.” GL is looking at building its own drones,
preferably as small as possible. In the next
few years, drones might be so small that
they could fi t into a surveyor’s pocket,
controlled via a cell phone, and taken out
whenever areas are diffi cult to inspect.

“This is not very futuristic,” said Galinski.
“We see more and more instances where
it would be benefi cial for the surveyor.
We have to stop thinking of drones as
something complicated. It’s just another
tool like a hammer or a fl ashlight.”

Drone dropping a parcel for Wilhelmsen
Ships Agency at NorShipping in Oslo.
© Wilhelmsen Ships Agency

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maritime