Deployment of ROV at the Gaarkeuken lock

It was all over the media recently that shipping traffic was blocked at the Gaarkeuken lock. On Thursday evening a ship reported that there was something on the bottom of the canal. Rijkswaterstaat (the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management) went and  determined that also by sonar imaging. Diving company DTS was then called to trace and identify the object under water the next morning; a great opportunity to use our new ROV, or underwater drone. More about that later!

That turned out to be a good move, because thanks to this ROV, which is equipped with sonar so that we have a good image even in circumstances with poor visibility, we had the object in sight within 10 minutes. It turned out to be a large rudder blade that stood upright in the sludge bottom.

Our divers then entered the water to assist in recovering the rudder blade, for which a crane vessel was brought in. During the afternoon, shipping traffic, which had meanwhile formed a considerable traffic jam in front of the lock in the Van Starkenborgh Canal, could be resumed.

Thanks to our ROV, we are now able to map out a situation even faster. Because we first enter the water with the ROV, our divers run less risk and we can significantly shorten the diving time in various situations. However, an ROV will never completely replace a human diver; an ROV can reach inaccessible areas, take certain measurements and visualize things, but it has no human sense of touch and judgement. An ROV cannot also perform work underwater, such as moving objects, salvage, earthmoving, welding and burning. Diving work will always remain a combination of human work and technology, where the ROV has become a wonderful new addition!

Need a diving team and/or ROV service quickly? DTS guarantees an experienced diving team on site throughout the Netherlands within 2 to 3 hours – 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. In the three northern provinces we are on location within 60 – 90 minutes on average.

DTS is certified according to VCA* 2017 6.0 and ISO 9001-2015

Read HERE also the report from local radio & TV station RTV Noord.