Intersagunto Terminales hosts a drill on advanced safety aboard container ships

The use of IoT thermal sensors and autonomous drones. These are some of the elements used in the safety drill carried out by Intersagunto Terminales. The Grupo Alonso terminal located in the Port of Sagunto hosted this demonstration event as part of the OVERHEAT maritime safety project (Innovative Strategies for Containership Fires Prevention Management). It is a European initiative that proposes advanced technological solutions to prevent and manage fires on board container ships.

High technology in a real-world environment

During the demonstration, two separate tests were carried out within a restricted area in the terminal yard. First, a controlled fire was started inside a container located at the base of a three-high stack. The IoT sensors installed in the ventilation ducts detected the fire, triggering the alarm and the subsequent intervention of the firefighters. The second part of the trial assessed the performance of the autonomous drones. These devices carried out a scheduled patrol and, thanks to their cameras, identified the presence of smoke outside the cargo, generating a new alert and producing images of the fire from different perspectives to be sent in real time to the command post. The European OVERHEAT programme aims to develop innovative solutions to reduce the incidence of fires on container ships, mitigate the impact of these incidents on crews and minimise the risk of accidents such as collisions or groundings resulting from incidents on board. Furthermore, the project seeks to introduce automated systems that help reduce the influence of human error in navigation.

Close collaboration between institutions

The drill at Intersagunto Terminales  was organised by the Valenciaport Foundation, in collaboration with the Valencia Port Authority and the Valencia Provincial Fire Brigade Consortium. An example of collaboration and the pursuit of synergies between institutions in support of maritime safety.