THE maritime industry is operating in an increasingly uncertain environment. Geopolitical disruption, longer voyage times, travel restrictions and growing regulatory demands are placing unprecedented pressure on shipowners and operators, while disruption in the Middle East Gulf and the Red Sea has exposed the limitations of traditional survey processes. Meanwhile, inspections of ballast tanks, cargo holds and other confined spaces remain labour-intensive and dependent on physical entry into hazardous environments, driving demand for safer, more agile survey methodologies that improve inspection consistency, data quality, vessel availability and cost predictability.

Advancing tech-enabled inspections

To facilitate safer, more cost-optimised surveys, Bureau Veritas has developed Remote Inspection Techniques (RIT), an advanced inspection methodology combining surveyor expertise with drone-enabled inspections and AI-supported analysis. Supporting its global adoption is a growing network of dedicated RIT centres providing 24/7 support, alongside guidelines that help shipowners, service suppliers and surveyors confidently adopt advanced survey inspections.

RIT inspections are performed onboard by BV-qualified surveyors trained specifically by vessel type. Using drones equipped with high-resolution cameras and LiDAR sensors, they inspect confined and hazardous spaces without human entry. A full RIT engagement generates thousands of minutes of inspection footage from ballast tanks, cargo holds and structural spaces. AI-supported analysis identifies, categorises and standardises inspection findings before validation by a surveyor. Combining AI with surveyor expertise, RIT delivers a more comprehensive understanding of structural conditions while preserving the independent judgement fundamental to classification.

Beyond improving safety, RIT provides faster access to standardised inspection data, supporting earlier maintenance planning, more predictable operating expenditure and reduced hire-off exposure. It also reduces confined-space entries by 60%-70%, lowering inspection preparation, scaffolding and rope-access requirements, reducing costs, shortening dry-dock periods and improving vessel availability.

AGS 3D: Transforming inspection data into asset intelligence

Alongside RIT, Bureau Veritas is advancing digital asset integrity management through its market-first Augmented Surveyor 3D (AGS 3D), combining classification expertise with advanced inspection and data management technologies to deliver an innovative approach to asset integrity management.

Drone-based inspections generate large volumes of images, videos and LiDAR data, which are processed through AI models informed by BV’s extensive inspection experience documenting corrosion and crack patterns. AGS 3D automatically detects structural anomalies, maps them onto an accurate three-dimensional digital model and transforms raw inspection data into standardised, actionable intelligence that can be shared, compared and monitored across inspection cycles and assets.

Supported by BV experts throughout planning, data acquisition, analysis and validation, AGS 3D provides owners with a unified, high-fidelity view of asset conditions that enables more informed maintenance planning, improved lifecycle management and greater confidence in operational decision-making. Early deployments have demonstrated measurable benefits, including a 42% reduction in inspection lead times, a 50% reduction in inspection costs compared with rope-access and scaffolding-based approaches, and a 90% reduction in mobilisation support personnel.

Turning digital capabilities into trusted operational value

Beyond modernising its inspections, Bureau Veritas is actively supporting its customers in their digital transformation. Through its voluntary digital class offer SMARTship, BV helps them build confidence in the digital systems and data infrastructures underpinning safer and more efficient day-to-day vessel operations. Demand for independent assurance in this field has accelerated significantly: uptake of SMART notations has tripled over the past two years, with more than 300 individual notations already contracted, supported by a growing ecosystem of certified technology providers.

BV’s SMART notations cover the main data-driven use cases deployed in operations today: machinery maintenance optimisation, structural hull integrity, energy efficiency, and navigation support. Behind each notation lies a comprehensive verification and validation framework, combining documentation review, testing, and audits, built to ensure digital systems can be trusted and used with confidence. Beyond technology itself, this framework supports the alignment of technology, processes, and people around trusted data flows, because data-driven optimisation is only as strong as the alignment between the three.

Ultimately, digital transformation is not about generating more data, but turning trusted data into better decisions. Through solutions like RIT, AGS 3D and SMARTship, Bureau Veritas is combining classification expertise with advanced digital technologies to improve safety, strengthen asset integrity and support trusted operational value. 

Learn more about AGS 3D