Apr.4--Montreal's Fednav said it is the first shipping company to use drones to check ice conditions on the water during commercial voyages, reports American Shipper.
Fednav vice president Thomas Paterson said drones are "proving to be extremely beneficial to identify many ice features that should be avoided ahead of the vessel, as well as identifying open water leads to improve voyage efficiency."
The Umiak I, one of Fednav's icebreakers, used a variety of video-equipped drones to scout ahead for ice on the Labrador Coast. The goal was to provide the captain and officers with detailed, real-time visual information on the local ice conditions.
Enfotec, a Fednav subsidiary, has for 20 years specialised in providing advanced ice imagery and analysis to vessels operating in difficult ice conditions.
New method of ice detection allows for the immediate capture of subtle ice features such as ridges, leads and fractures.
Fednav is a group of Canadian companies in the Ship transport industry. Primarily involved in transporting bulk cargo and break bulk cargo.