SkeyDrone’s latest white paper looks at drone flights over seaports. Drones have the ability to transform port operations by providing inspections, surveillance and logistics. Meanwhile, unauthorised drone flights can disrupt operations and pose security risks.
The white paper cites news reports regarding unathorised drone flights over ports. In January 2025, DW reported that approximately 20 drones were spotted flying over the port of Koege, southwest of Copenhagen, Denmark. The origins of the drones remained unclear and this incident led to an investigation by Danish police and notification of the country’s domestic intelligence service. In addition, In November 2024, Army Recognition reported that an unidentified drone was detected near the British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth during its port call in Hamburg, Germany. “Despite a swift response by the Bundeswehr, equipped with handheld jammers, the drone evaded capture, disappearing toward the Tollerort container terminal, an infrastructure partially controlled by China’s COSCO Shipping Ports,” the article states.
SkeyDrone says ports are facing a significant rise in drone activity, making it increasingly challenging to monitor drone flights. For example, the company reveals that in the Port of Antwerp, the second largest port in Europe and home to a network of six drones-in-a-box, executing up to 18 flights per day; a total of 2,152 drone flights were detected in the first quarter of 2025. This averages 24 flights per day.
Drone detection systems can utilise a wide array of sensors, including radars, visual and thermal cameras, infrared sensors, lasers, radio frequency (RF) monitoring, and acoustic sensors. “To be truly effective, a detection system must provide reliable tracking over long distances, regardless of light or weather conditions,” SkeyDrone says, adding that RF detection is the most widely adopted.
“In a sensitive environment like a seaport, RF detection in combination with a continuously evolving drone database is the preferred solution. This advanced RF-based detection system not only detects RF signals, but also decodes and decrypts the communication link between the drone and its operator based on info from the drone database. By analysing these data packets, the system can extract detailed information such as GPS coordinates, height, speed, and even the drone’s model and ID. This approach provides port authorities with a more comprehensive understanding of the drone’s activities and capabilities.”
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Image: Heatmap of detected drone flights in the Port of Antwerp in Q1, 2025 (SkeyDrone)
