Maersk Tankers makes first drone delivery at sea

Drone was supplied by French company Xamen Technologies

The first drone delivery to a vessel at sea has been successfully completed by Maersk Tankers.

The trial, which took place near Kalundborg in Denmark, used a drone supplied by French company Xamen Technologies.

Due to bad weather conditions, it was not possible to launch the drone from the shore as planned, but the parcel was instead successfully dropped from 5m onto the vessel after being flown in from a tugboat.

Markus Kuhn, supply chain manager at Maersk, said: “Costs for a barge are on average $1,000 and can easily go up to $3,000 or more. With the current pay-load of drones, on average a vessel has three cases per year in which the barge transport could be substituted by a drone – meaning a potential avoidance of barge costs of $3,000-9,000 per vessel per year. And if you consider that Maersk Tankers has around 100 vessels, the savings potential could be substantial.”

Maersk said that there is a lot of potential for using drones across all of its businesses. Maersk Oil and Drilling is already testing drones for inspections of flare tips or other installations. APM Terminals and Maersk Supply Service are also starting to look into it too, the company added.

Kuhn added: “It is fundamental that any drones used by Maersk Tankers are safe for the environment they are operating in. They must be certified as intrinsically safe for most tasks, so they cannot create any spark, even if they were to crash.

"Some inspections can pose risks if performed by humans. If drones are approved for tank inspections, it will improve safety on tankers and potentially in other oil-related installations,” he added.