US data firm sought drone flights over oil tanks in Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Antwerp

A contract offer to a Dutch drone operator

Government documents released under a Dutch freedom-of-information request, known as a Woo request, concern drone supervision in the port of Rotterdam. They show that a US data-analysis company approached a Dutch drone operator with a lucrative contract running one year. Under the offer, the operator would fly drones fitted with thermal cameras once a week over petrochemical complexes in the ports of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Antwerp. The company's goal was to work out in secret how much fuel the storage tanks held. Strict safety rules apply at these sites.

How the technique is said to work

Algemeen Dagblad reports that the method is technically feasible. Stored liquids hold heat differently from the air layer at the top of a tank, and advanced thermal cameras can show from hundreds of metres away how full a tank is. Commodity speculators pay heavily to learn early whether stocks in large ports are rising or falling, which makes such data valuable to them. According to the paper, the US firm had already used the same approach at a large oil storage facility in the United States.

The refusal and the alarm

The drone operator asked about the permits held by the oil terminals. The Americans replied that no contact had been made with the owners of the installations and that none was planned. The US firm said it would itself bear responsibility for the flights. The operator turned the offer down and went to the Inspectie Leefomgeving en Transport (ILT), the Dutch inspectorate for aviation and transport. In a confidential message to the inspectorate, the operator said the plan went too far and that it felt somewhat like espionage. It also concluded that the flights could not be carried out safely without permission.

Scope across three ports

Le Soir carries the same account, and its headline describes the plan as an attempt to spy on the port of Antwerp. The request covered storage tanks in Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Antwerp alike, which places the Belgian port in the same plan as the two Dutch ports. The documents at the centre of the reporting relate to drone supervision in Rotterdam. The reports do not say whether any flight took place before the operator stepped away.

Legal position and oversight

Storage tanks at these industrial complexes count as vital infrastructure. Flying over such installations without the knowledge of the companies is prohibited. The ILT confirms that drone firms flying over vital infrastructure must coordinate their flights in advance with the site operator. The inspectorate says its own capacity is limited. Outside scheduled inspections, it has no real-time view of drone activity over these sites. Follow-up by the inspectorate has not been reported so far.