Co-founder of Terra Inspectioneering, Marien van den Hoek, discusses winning gold and the future of their technology.
At the 2022 Tank Storage Awards, gold was presented to Terra Inspectioneering in the Safety Technology category for the Terra UT drone. The judges said the technology was chosen due to its ability to drastically reduce the amount of time needed for both working at height and confined space entry; automating tasks and reducing employee risks.
When asked how it felt to win the award, co-founder Marien van den Hoek says: ‘Winning the award was great because, working in the industry for many years, the main topic is always safety, safety and safety! When you are introducing a new technology and you get recognised for it by winning such an award, it raises even more awareness.’
Terra Inspectioneering was founded in 2016 and started by conducting visual inspections. Within two years, the company was exploring all kinds of measurement technology, including ultrasonic thickness. Now, Terra’s technology is used by 72 companies in the industry, including big players like Vopak, BP, and Shell. ‘You can say we have all these companies on board because we are mature now!,’ says van den Hoek.
RECOGNISING SAFETY
‘The difference between us and others is that our technology is fully based on the fact that there will be no more people working in confined spaces,’ stresses van den Hoek. ‘The difference between us and others is that our technology is fully based on the fact that there will be no more people working in confined spaces.’
Before Terra’s technology, the traditional method of inspecting big storage tanks was using rope. Tank inspectors would go inside the tanks and complete the required checks themselves. This method could take three weeks with five qualified personnel. Terra’s technology reduces completion time to just three days and only four personnel. ‘Although we’re offering a step forward in technology, from the economical point of view, it’s huge. Safety recognition is the main driver of being successful as a company, but asset owners also have to deal with all the economics in the tank terminal business,’ says van den Hoek.
One of Terra’s latest developments is a bus, located outside of the tank, with three large screens inside displaying the content in which the drone is collecting, meaning no tank entry is required. The asset or terminal owner is able to join inspection personnel and see exactly what is happening inside the tanks too.
RISK-BASED INSPECTIONS
‘Another, big game for the asset owners and the terminal owners is the inspection regime and this has to do with RBI (risk- based inspections),’ says van den Hoek. A terminal owner must complete a tank inspection every 10 years to meet various authorities’ legislation. But because Terra technology can gather so much more data, there’s an opportunity to introduce RBI. The traditional method may only collect 20 measurements, and once these are entered into an RBI system, they will not produce very accurate or long-term results. By using Terra’s technology, thousands of measurements can be entered into the RBI system. ‘We have been able to increase the time from ten years to 18 years in-between inspections. So, when the authorities say you have to inspect your tank every ten years, you can now use the proof in the RBI and say no!’ van den Hoek says.
Asset owners want to perform as few tank inspections as possible to avoid assets being out of service. So, extending the time between inspections saves a lot of money, as well as time and resources.
NEXT STEPS
Terra’s philosophy is based on the fact that the inspectors who use their technology, are using it so they are able to stay outside of the tanks. However, they are still left with the issue of pinpointing the exact location of drones flying inside the tanks. Currently, Terra relies on the capabilities of their pilots’ knowledge. Van den Hoek tells Tank Storage Magazine of Terra’s current projects: ‘We are pretty far into the development of making a fully automated function, so that when a drone goes inside a tank that it will know exactly where it’s recording and looking for regarding the inspection. The timeframe for the development of this process with be half a year!’
For more information:
www.terra-inspectioneering.com
