ADLC shows how petroleum samples can be safely transported by cargo drone from terminal to mainland in Singapore

On Monday, 17th of August, ADLC flew the full commercial mission profile in Singapore between the Maritime Drone Estate (Marina South) and a marine petroleum terminal on Pulau Sebarok : roughly 13 km each way, in both directions, exactly as the route would run in daily operations.

Milestones achieved : The payload class. Our PW.ORCA carries up to 15 kg in a 96-litre bay, roughly three times the payload demonstrated in earlier Singapore maritime drone trials with an endurance of 50km.

The origin : This is the first time a commercial mission profile has been flown out of a specially protected petroleum island in Singapore, under the country's first and only CAAS permit covering such BVLOS operations.

“We chose Singapore because it is the hardest version of this problem” said Arthur Baeyens, Managing Director APAC. “If a sample logistics operation can be trusted here, in the world's busiest bunkering hub, in front of the people who actually run it, it can be trusted anywhere.”

Regulators, terminal operators, surveyors and shipping companies, including Columbia Shipmanagement, Wilhelmsen group, PSA Singapore, and Advario, watched the exact procedure a live petroleum cargo sample would follow: drawn and sealed at the terminal by staff on the terminal, packed into a certified dangerous-goods container, flown BVLOS with live tracking shared with the authorities, then handed to the laboratory courier under unbroken chain of custody.

Singapore is our first APAC deployment, built on the same terminal-to-laboratory model already running daily commercial operations in the Port of Antwerp-Bruges. It will not be the last.

We are very proud of all our partners and supporters that made this demonstration a reality.

The demonstration has been covered by outlets across the region and beyond :

• https://www.zaobao.com.sg/news/singapore/story20260817-9530739
• https://www.drones-magazin.de/en/articles/saving-time-and-protecting-the-climate-with-drones/
• https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/vtol-cargo-drone-flies-full-terminal-to-mainland-route-over-singaporean-waters-in-demonstration-of-how-dangerous-goods-sample-logistics-can-be-flown-safely/
• https://www.unmannedairspace.info/latest-news-and-information/adlc-flies-bvlos-cargo-drone-mission-between-singapore-petroleum-terminal-and-mainland/