Groningen Seaports Schedules Underwater Health Check

Groningen Seaports has appointed high-tech company VRT Finland to survey 20 kilometers of underwater structures in Delfzijl and Eemshaven ports during inspections starting at the end of January.

The survey is being carried out to ensure the full operational capacity and extended life-cycle of the ports, offshore wind hubs, terminals, and other industrial sites.

The data will be collected with a multibeam sonar and an unmanned survey vessel from both under and above water simultaneously, which will enable Groningen Seaports to obtain clear and detailed information without causing any downtime to the normal day-to-day operations.

“VRT’s inspections are a basis for our maintenance. It is an economical way of mapping our entire area. We have chosen VRT because they can carry out both the inspections above and under water simultaneously,” said Henk Blaauw, Manager Projects & Asset Management at Groningen Seaports.

“On the basis of the results, we can also carry out further targeted inspections by divers, which provides us with a full picture of the existing situation.”

The works are part of the cooperation started in the summer last year, when the port authority sought a partner to provide innovative solutions for monitoring the condition of underwater structures, often left invisible with traditional inspection methods.

According to Groningen Seaports, the 3D data received through the VRT BIM online-tool provides the information needed to support proactive asset integrity management, and long cooperation with the Finnish company allows long-term monitoring of the ports’ underwater assets.

The processed and interpreted 3D data can be utilized to plan construction and possible maintenance activities more accurately, which ensures the high-quality service in Groningen ports by extending the life-cycle of the structures.