Bureau Veritas completes full remote “in-water” hull survey by ROV

Classification society Bureau Veritas (BV) and MaDfly Marine Drone Services have completed the first full in-water ship's hull survey with a mini ROV on the Brittany Ferries' Ro-Pax vessel Bretagne.

The survey, which was supervised by BV on behalf of the French Flag, provided an opportunity to validate the integrity of the entire ship's hull's bottom.

A remotely operated drone performed an in-water survey with a BV surveyor on board the ferry.

In parallel, BV tested the capability with its own remote inspection solutions using full HD live video footage from MaDfly. This enabled BV to carry out the survey remotely without any attended surveyor on-board with live streaming, as well as video and audio recording and photo options.

BV has noted the following benefits of using this system:

• Safer operations as divers do not have to be in the water
• Reduction in preparation time – with a single operator and limited equipment
• High quality pictures from the drones
• Reduced risk of disturbance to ship operations

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