Belgian group Jan De Nul has ordered a groundbreaking unmanned vessel to transform its offshore survey work.
The company said it will be the first dredging contractor to use such a ship at sea.
The Beluga 01 has been designed by Norway’s Maritime Robotics.
It is described as a hybrid-propulsion mariner unmanned surface vehicle (USV) and is the first step towards autonomous offshore survey operations, Jan De Nul added.
Details of its construction and delivery have not been divulged, but the unit will sail under the Luxembourg flag.
The USV will be used worldwide for hydrographical and environmental surveys on marine and offshore construction projects.
“Maritime Robotics’ system convinced Jan De Nul of its well-engineered high-quality design, based on 10 years of experience,” the shipowner said.
Mike Lycke, the group’s survey manager for offshore projects, explained that for several years the company has been studying different autonomous systems.
A maturing market
“Our primary focus has always been to build up our expertise on autonomy for maritime survey operations. The global circumstances in 2020 and a maturing USV market enabled us to take it to the next step and order a turnkey vessel for our marine and offshore projects,” he added.
Eirik Hovstein, chief operating officer of Maritime Robotics, said the two companies will explore the future of unmanned solutions to ensure safer, greener and more cost-effective data acquisitions at sea.
The Beluga 01 is equipped with a fully-redundant hybrid propulsion system.
The prime source of propulsion is a diesel engine that is mechanically coupled to the water jet.
Alternatively, the vessel can be operated in full electrical mode.
There is also a range-extender module to top up the batteries which will operate longer than 12 hours.
This system has lower emissions than the main engine, which could also be used as an alternator for the batteries.
