Automatic ship grounding solution at the Santander Shipyard
Company
Astander is one of the leading shipyards in northern Spain, specializing in ship repair, maintenance, and conversion, where beaching operations are critical processes from the point of view of safety, time, and operating costs.
With the aim of eliminating risks, reducing downtime, and increasing the precision of maneuvers, Astander decided to implement an advanced digital solution that would completely transform the traditional beaching process.
Challenge
Implement a system capable of fully automating ship dry docking maneuvers, eliminating underwater interventions, reducing dependence on human factors, and ensuring maximum precision and safety both in dry dock and on the ramp.
The solution had to be reliable, repeatable, traceable, and adaptable to different operating scenarios within the shipyard.
Problem
- High risk to people:
Traditional maneuvers required direct human intervention, including underwater work with high exposure to risk. - Operational complexity:
Coordination of multiple teams and distributed personnel, with high dependence on individual experience. - Low process repeatability:
Accuracy depended on the human factor, making it difficult to standardize and trace maneuvers. - High time and cost:
Manual processes increased layup times and the costs associated with each operation.
Solution
How we do it?
Automatic Beaching was implemented, an advanced digital solution that allows beaching maneuvers to be performed in a fully automated, safe, and precise manner.
- Digital automatic control architecture
Centralized system that manages the entire beaching maneuver, ensuring total synchronization and continuous control of the process. - Automatic beaching in dry dock
Specific version for positioning ships on beaching beds using fully digital processes without direct human intervention. - Automatic beaching on ramp
Solution adapted to ramp maneuvers, maintaining the same levels of safety, precision, and control. - Total digital control of the maneuver
Automatic management without the need for technical personnel during the operation, with complete repeatability and traceability. - Millimeter precision and absolute safety
Perfect synchronization of the system allows for ship positioning with an accuracy of ±10 mm, eliminating uncertainty and risk.
Results
- Complete elimination of underwater interventions
- Zero risk to personnel during the maneuver
- Up to 60% reduction in dry docking times
- Positioning accuracy ±10 mm
- Fully repeatable and traceable process
- Radical improvement in shipyard operational efficiency
- Total digitization of a critical naval process