ROG Ship Repair adopts UT drone inspections to cut downtime and improve safety

ROG Ship Repair in Rotterdam is expanding its use of class-approved UT drones for pre-repair and class inspections, aiming to accelerate diagnostics and reduce risks for crews and surveyors. The yard works closely with 3D Test Solutions, whose Elios 3 UT drone is being used for visual and ultrasonic thickness measurements across multiple vessel types calling Rotterdam.

Hanna Roukema, commercial manager at ROG Ship Repair, said: “3DTS is a very important partner for us because they are class-approved to use the drones for the inspections. And they use the most innovative drones to do both visual inspections and UTM inspections.” She noted that faster inspections allow the yard to identify required manpower, parts and work sequences earlier in the repair process, making planning far more efficient.

Roukema said the safety advantages are clear, citing past industry incidents involving collapsed scaffolding or low-oxygen tank spaces. “We could reach some parts by using scaffolding or rope access, but this will take much more time, and more people, than using the drone and one pilot,” she said.

“Before, if you wanted to enter the ballast tank, you had the tank entry procedures which made it more difficult because in some cases you need to ventilate the ballast tanks for a long time, until you can go into the tanks to do an inspection, but with the drones you can skip these procedures completely. This saves a lot of time.”