Drone company lands major European offshore water pollution contract

A SOUTH Yorkshire drone specialist has won a multi-million euro contract to monitor pollution in Europe’s waters.

The Martek Drones division, which is part of the Martek Marine maritime technology group, has won a €10m framework contract with the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA).

The Rotherham-based company will send its two-metre long drones up to 50km offshore to measure the sulphur and CO2 levels emitted from the exhausts of commercial ships.

“The drone we are using is unique in the world,” said Paul Luen, CEO and owner of the Martek Group. “To carry out this work so far offshore it has to be able to fly for up to six hours and carry a payload of up to 10kg. It will also have to withstand all weathers, including gale-force winds and heavy rain. It’s effectively a mini-helicopter.”

But Mr Luen says the drone is just the first of many disruptive drone technologies that Martek Drones will release in the next few years.

“We’ve invested a lot of money in drone technology over the past three years and we’re very ambitious. We literally believe we can ‘change the world’ using drone applications. We will announce a number of world firsts in the next three years,” he said.

The call to deploy these drones could be made from any EU nation at any time.
EMSA will then relay the request to Martek, which will send two drones and a crew to monitor the seas for a minimum of 60 days in each location.

The land-based team will manoeuvre the drone close to ship exhaust stacks and use a gas analyser to measure the SO2, NO2 and CO2 ratios in the surrounding atmosphere. The drones are equipped with both visible light and infra-red cameras, as well as various other sensors.

The data they gather will be sent back to shipping authorities in real time so they can evaluate if ship owners are falling foul of EU legislation on sulphur levels in their fuel, which causes acid rain and damages health.

Martek Marine has already won contracts with fire services, police authorities, universities and owners of wind turbines.

Talks are ongoing with the Home Office about their deployment of drones.

“Drones are a disruptive technology with the capacity to change industries,” Mr Luen says. “One example is inspecting wind turbines. Currently, it’s done by guys climbing up on ropes, but it’s time-consuming, costly and dangerous, especially when they’re offshore. Drones have the potential to disrupt the whole process.”
The Martek Marine group has grown rapidly from small beginnings.

Founders Paul Luen, Mike Pringle and Steve Coulson had £6,000 of initial investment in 2000. Sixteen years later, the company has sold US$100m worth of equipment and employs 60 staff serving 80 countries.

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