Scandlines Germany officially receives the first intermediate ROV class certificate without the presence of conventional divers
The class was surveyed by Lloyd's Register and conducted by Stein Maritime Consulting in collaboration with Vesselity Maritime Analytics, according to the company's release.
The inspection took place using an underwater drone, a so-called remotely operated vehicle (ROV), which was manufactured in Norway by Blueye Robotics. The vessel inspected is a ferry with pod propulsion, operating between Germany and Denmark.
"The acceptance of ROV class services for pod vessels opens a whole new market for robotic inspection in the cruise, ferry and service ship market and reflects a huge step towards maritime digitalisation," said Michael Stein, the ROV pilot conducting the dive. According to him, unmanned class inspections can save 50 percent and more costs compared to conventional divers.
"I used a nine kg micro-ROV system, a tablet and a USB gaming controller to conduct a fully accepted class inspection in four hours alone with the surveyor. I am confident that the maritime industry will be open towards the economic benefits of ROV-based inspections and accept this new method."
Scandlines is a ferry operator, operating two ferry routes with high capacity and frequency. Six of its ferries are hybrid ferries, and two are furthermore fitted with an innovative rotor sail. With 39,000 departures on seven ferries, Scandlines in 2022 transported close to 6.1 million passengers, 1.6 million cars and over 750,000 freight units.
