Boskalis is one of the world’s leading providers of dredging, offshore transport/installation, and maritime services. The Dutch company has executed projects across 90 countries and 6 continents, ranging from the expansion of the Port of Rotterdam in The Netherlands, to the construction of an offshore wind farm in Taiwan.
To conduct operations safely and efficiently, project personnel need consistent access to highly accurate, real-time data about offshore worksite conditions. Boskalis deploys the Spotter Platform to gather this data, collecting real-time observations of wave spectra, subsurface ocean currents, and other physical parameters. These remotely accessible insights help streamline workability assessments and enable personnel to work smarter, safer, and more efficiently.
Each of Boskalis’ marine infrastructure projects present a unique set of operational considerations. Personnel must be prepared to:
Given this variability, Boskalis highly values durable and flexible ocean sensing solutions like Spotter that personnel can deploy repeatedly across different projects to collect diverse marine datasets.
Spotter’s modular design enables data collection that is fit for multiple purposes. At the surface, the Spotter wave buoy measures wave spectra, wind, sea surface temperature, and atmospheric pressure. Beneath the surface, Spotter’s Smart Mooring cable integrates interchangeable sensors that measure temperature, water level, currents, dissolved oxygen, sound, and — using additional sensors configured with the Bristlemouth open standard — many other variables. The platform’s flexibility allows Boskalis personnel to:
Boskalis primarily uses the data collected by Spotter to determine if the conditions at a given worksite are safe enough for onsite operations. Spotter’s observations of subsurface ocean current speed and direction, in particular, are a key determinant of whether or not offshore work is conducted on a given day.
During one project, Boskalis deployed two Spotters integrated with single-point ocean current meters to monitor workability during the installation of a power cable for an offshore wind farm. One Spotter was deployed offshore where a trench was being dredged, while the other was deployed nearshore in shallower water where a cable pull-in operation was underway.
By equipping each Spotter with an ocean current sensor, Boskalis avoided using an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP). ADCPs are a trusted ocean current measurement tool, but are expensive, extremely difficult to deploy, and do not transmit data in real-time, making them unfit for many projects.
According to Boskalis, the main advantages of Spotter are size and ease of mobilization. The alternatives are large buoys and, if currents need to be measured, an ADCP, which is difficult to get in location and requires a dedicated vessel to deploy. The Spotter can be easily transported on any type of vessel available.
Data collected by Spotter’s integrated current meter is nearly identical to that collected by an ADCP, according to a recent field study. All of Spotter’s observations of subsurface ocean currents, waves, and other parameters are transmitted in real time via satellite and cellular and made instantly accessible via the Spotter Dashboard and API. ADCP data, on the other hand, is typically only accessible after the device is physically recovered. Instantaneous data access enabled Boskalis to remotely view observations made by both of its Spotters, assess conditions near the wind farm, and help ensure that operations were conducted safely and efficiently.
Boskalis’ use of Spotter to collect surface and subsurface ocean data in support of workability assessments is a strategy that is replicable across industries. Whether you are an aquaculture provider gauging conditions for day-to-day maintenance or a port operator monitoring marine weather near a pilot boarding station, Spotter is the ideal platform to help you make safer and more efficient decisions at sea.
Interested in learning more about Spotter? Please contact our Sales team or download our white paper below.
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