Rotherham drone specialist wins €10m to protect Europe’s waters

A Rotherham-based company specialising in ‘unique’ drone technology has landed 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 company will send its 2-metre long drones up to 50km offshore to measure the sulphur and CO2 levels emitted from the exhausts of commercial ships.

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 (thermal imaging) cameras, as well as various other sensors.

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

Paul Luen, CEO and owner of the Martek Group, said: “The drone we are using is unique in the world.

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

Luen added: “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.

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

The company is currently holding talks with the Home Office about deploying more drones.

Luen commented: “Drones are a disruptive technology with the capacity to change industries. 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.”

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