Ocean going ships are the most cost effective form of transporting bulk goods around the world. To date, Europe owns nearly 40% of the world’s fleet of ships, which account for 90% of its external trade and 40% of its internal trade. Moreover, in the supply of ship building components and services, the EU is a world leader. As a result, the maritime industry, which includes ship building and ship operation, are vital to Europe’s economy. In this industry sector, structural failure is a major cause of the loss of ships, vessels and tankers resulting in loss of life and pollution of the world’s oceans, seas and coastal waters of Europe. There is a real need for more reliable, faster, cost effective and safer inspection techniques. The X-Scan project aims to respond to this need by developing novel automated NDT techniques (ultrasonic and electromagnetic) for ship structures.