EM&I introduces ’20 year plan’ for hull inspections

Most floating offshore assets have to have periodic surveys every 2.5 and 5 years to satisfy class society requirements. This can disrupt normal operations, as the tanks, valves and hull must be made available for inspections at these times.

The concept of the “20-year plan” is a direct result of EM&I‘s ODIN diverless Under Water Inspection in Lieu of Drydocking (UWILD) technology, not requiring divers to carry out underwater hull surveys at the prescribed periods, allowing the inspections to be scheduled over a 20-year period.

This approach benefits both the operators and class societies, as the operator does not suffer from disruptions to normal operations, and the class society get regular and high-quality information about the asset.

Every aspect of the normal periodic surveys is covered in the 20-year plan, including critical valve inspections using ODIN access ports and specialized cameras and manipulators, and tank inspections using EM&I’s NoMan remote camera technology, which does not require man entry into the tanks, and can be done in a fraction of the time required by rope access teams.

“Our new innovations ODIN & NoMan combined with the 20-year plan have enabled us to cut costs by over 50% and People on Board (POB) by over 70%, so this is a major achievement in producing a more economic and safer solution to the periodic survey problem,” Danny Constantinis, Executive Chairman of the International Asset Integrity Specialists for EM&I said. “All the work can be carried out while the asset is on hire, on station and in operation. We are also working closely with industry to introduce Structural RBI methods, digitization and robotic systems, which will further enhance the benefits of long-term planning”.