Ship and offshore inspection is shifting from traditional manual work toward unmanned, automated and data-driven operations. In a recent at-sea trial, the Scout 137 tethered drone system carried out automated cargo hold inspection on board a bulk carrier during a voyage from New York to the Bahamas. Following a pre-planned flight path, the system completed an autonomous inspection inside the cargo holds and validated the feasibility of industrial drones for confined-space inspection on board.
1. Pre-planned flight paths for automated inspection — reducing manual entry into the holds
During this at-sea trial, Scout 137 relied on a pre-defined flight route to autonomously complete in-hold flight, 3D environmental mapping, image and data capture, and point-of-interest logging across the full inspection workflow. Operators only had to deploy the equipment at the start; no on-site drone piloting was required.
Thanks to its native tethered power design, the system has no endurance limitations and can carry out full-coverage inspection of large cargo holds in a single deployment. In this trial, the complete workflow — from take-off to landing — was finished in around one hour, minimising vessel downtime and helping the ship stay on schedule for its next voyage.
For shipowners, ship managers and survey service teams, the value of this kind of automated inspection is not just reduced personnel risk in confined spaces. It is also that cargo hold condition records become more standardised, easier to review, and more useful for long-term comparison.
2. Standardised data capture, enabling long-term condition comparison
The core value of automated inspection is a reusable, standardised flight plan. A defined flight route can be called up and repeated indefinitely, precisely revisiting the same monitoring points each time, and continuously tracking hull corrosion, coating damage and structural deformation trends. This delivers a consistent data foundation for maintenance planning, and moves away from the randomness and inconsistency that often affect manual inspection records.
The system already supports pre-planned automated inspection today. In the longer term, the platform is set to add AI-based defect recognition, fully automated ultrasonic thickness measurement, and hands-off autonomous exploration — moving toward a closed-loop smart operation and maintenance framework for ships.
Closing thoughts
This at-sea trial marks a step in confined-space ship inspection — from manually piloted operations toward standardised, automated inspection. Going forward, Scout 137 will continue to iterate on smart inspection capabilities, redefining how ship compartments are maintained through lower risk, higher efficiency and standardised data.
As the low-altitude economy continues to move into maritime and industrial settings, industrial drones are becoming an important tool for ship inspection, offshore facility surveys and confined-space checks. Tecway Maritime will continue to follow ScoutDI's applications across ships, FPSOs, storage tanks and industrial facilities, and provide clients with safer, more efficient and more digital drone-based inspection solutions.