Vessels and Shipping

Services to Vessel Owners and Shipping Companies

ROV and Container Ship
Photo courtesy of Videoray ®

Micro ROV Services can provide valuable, cost effective assistance to vessel owners and shipping companies.

We can provide you with:

• Security checks of vessel before leaving or arriving in port
• Hull inspections including propulsion, thrusters, anodes and sea chests
• Pre docking planning for support block layout
• Effective maintenance planning
• Internal inspections of fresh and ballast water tanks
• Reduced safety exposure
• Reduced costs
• Effective, repeatable annual inspections

Knowing what the condition of a hull and underwater fittings is like before you vessel goes into dry dock can save countless dollars in enabling pre dry dock planning. Micro ROV Services' hull inspection capabilities include the ability to systematically inspect the hull because the ROV is positioned by the Smart Tether system ensuring nothing is covered more than once and nothing is missed. The state of your bottom can be easily established, without the safety implications of using divers.

Also, divers have limitations. For example, look at the picture to the left, could a diver get the images on the right? Probably not.
The divers best image is on the left, but this Videoray ROV went through the outer grill of the thruster tube to get right up to the thruster bearing and propellers and take these sharp images on the right. Confirming no work needed to be arranged on the thrusters, saving time and money.

Lets not stop at the outer hull, what about those spaces inside a vessel. What is happening to the inner surfaces, welds and joints? Inspect your potable water and ballast tanks for structural integrity.

It is even possible to inspect tanks containing some kinds of fluid chemicals or hydrocarbons.

Offshore structures such as platforms, also have tanks just like ships. Inspections of the internal tanks are a must in any annual integrity inspection programme.

The Videoray Micro ROV

Weighing in at only 4.8 kgs (10.6 lbs) and being only 36 cm (14.2") long and 27 cm (11") wide the Pro-4 is small, light and easily deployed. In fact it is literally "throw it in the water. At only 21cm (8.5") high it can fit easily into most submerged pipelines, intakes or outfalls and spaces which are unreachable by a diver.

Small but powerful the Videoray Pro-4 can travel at 4.2 knots, see with the high resolution TV quality camera under the bright illumination of two Halogen lights. If the water is murky, there is the Blue View sonar sweeping the area and showing in sharp relief what’s ahead.

Found something? if it's small enough the manipulator can pick it up, if not the smart tether allows us to position it for later recovery by divers.

Want to measure or test something? the range of accessories allows on the spot testing of cathodic protection, determine metal thickness, detect radiation, sample water quality, and take measurements with a laser.

The ROV is a boon to the underwater world – for photographers, scientists, environmentalists, search and rescue, law enforcement, customs and excise, dam inspections, tank inspections, commercial and offshore oil and gas installation and monitoring, fisheries, recreational divers, hull inspections for yachties and commercial shipping, inspection of wharves, piers, moorings and harbour facilities and many more uses which are being discovered daily.