Vienna. Schiebel, under contract to the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), is providing ship emission monitoring for the German Federal Police and Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency using the proven CAMCOPTER^® S-100 Unmanned Air System (UAS).

Embarked on board the patrol vessel “Bamberg”, the S-100 is being employed, day and night, to monitor commercial ship emissions within the German Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the North Sea. In addition, the UAS will support a variety of other maritime surveillance tasks, such as vessel traffic monitoring, maritime law enforcement patrols in German territorial waters, environmental protection and when called upon, supporting Search and Rescue (SAR) missions.

In its primary task of measuring ships’ sulphur emissions in the busy shipping lanes, the S-100 is able to check compliance with the EU rules governing the sulphur content of marine fuels, in real time. Measurements are transmitted whilst airborne through to the EMSA RPAS Data Centre and then on to the relevant authorities.

Hans Georg Schiebel, Chairman of the Schiebel Group, said: “By measuring the sulphur emissions and gathering data of ships that do not adhere to the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) environmental regulations, we are playing a vital role in helping to ensure the sustainability of our ecosystem. We are proud that the S-100 UAS is proving to be a valuable asset in this endeavour.”