Port of Antwerp-Bruges launches world’s first port drone network

The Port of Antwerp-Bruges has launched the ‘D-Hive drone-in-a-box’

network to enhance security in the port area.

The Antwerp port area is more than 120 square kilometres, and it will now

be covered by the D-Hive network of six autonomous drones.

The drones are expected to offer a unique perspective from the air and

enable the port authorities to manage, inspect, and supervise a large area

quickly and effectively.

The port will use the drones for a range of functions including berth

management, monitoring, infrastructure inspections, oil spill and floating waste

detection, and to support security partners during incidents.

The 18 daily Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone flights will be

remotely controlled from a command-and-control centre in the heart of the

port.

This is the first implementation worldwide of BVLOS flights on this scale

in an industrial environment.

Unlike Visual Line Of Sight (VLOS) flights, these will take place out of

the pilot’s sight.

The network is the result of a partnership between the Port of

Antwerp-Bruges, DroneMatrix, SkeyDrone, and Proximus.

Two months ago, the partners were given the green light to launch the drone

network.

This operational permit was built around a new BVLOS framework known as

pre-Uspace airspace, built by Skeydrone and approved by the Belgian Civil

Aviation Authority (BCAA) and European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), as

an appropriate and safe framework for BVLOS drone flights.

Jacques Vandermeiren, CEO of Port of Antwerp-Bruges, said: “Given the huge

surface area of the port, drones provide us with leverage when it comes to

carrying out our core tasks as a port authority.

“This drone network will play a crucial role in the further roll-out of the

port’s Digital Twin, a digital copy based on thousands of pieces of data from a

network of cameras, sensors and drone, giving a real-time picture of what is

happening at the port every second,” Vandermeiren added.

In February, the Port of Antwerp-Bruges announced that Dutch tank storage

company, Vopak, is acquiring the shares of Gunvor Petroleum Antwerp (GPA) from

commodity trader, Gunvor Group.

More recently, the Port of Antwerp-Bruges and logistics provider,

Routescanner, partnered to offer Routescanner’s Direct Connections to shippers

and freight forwarders around the world.