A test project to provide groundwork for a new class procedure for the remote inspection of vessels under construction has been completed in Singapore, involving Bureau Veritas (BV), Nokia and Sembcorp Marine.
At the pilot trial, the three partners test-bedded remote surveys on a newbuild vessel under construction at Sembcorp Marine’s Tuas Boulevard Yard. Various checks were carried out to assess the integrity of the hull components, which were in various stages of construction. The checks included material verification, panel fit-up, as well as visual inspections of the sub-assembly block.
The remote monitoring centre at Tuas Boulevard Yard communicated with Sembcorp Marine’s quality control (QC) inspectors located at the vessel’s fabrication and assembly sites using Nokia’s cloud-based collaboration platform and FastMile 4G Customer Premises Equipment (CPE).
The QC inspectors were equipped with head-mounted cameras with high-definition video streaming and voice communication functions that enabled the BV surveyor stationed at the remote monitoring centre to verify production quality and spot defects.
“This project reflects BV’s digitalisation strategy for the marine and offshore sectors. The pandemic situation has led to an acceleration of remote survey techniques,” said David Barrow, Bureau Veritas Vice-President – Marine & Offshore, South Asia and Pacific.
“As we now move forward in our ever complex digital world, and manage new norms of working post COVID-19, we feel that true success is often about working collaboratively with stakeholders. This project is a clear best practice example of working in a collaborative manner.”
“Bureau Veritas, Sembcorp Marine, and Nokia have clearly shown in this trial that technology provides both efficiency and quality gains. And one major benefit of digitalisation and remote survey that must be emphasised is that of increased safety. This benefit must be recognised. This technology reduces the risk for all involved.”
