A Coruña UTM: Ship Thickness Gauging at the Inner and Outer Port

Inspection services for ships at A Coruña

Each service has its own page with the method, the class requirements and what the report contains.

Where gauging happens at A Coruña

Most gauging takes place alongside. At the outer port, tankers at the energy berths are measured within the terminal's permit-to-work regime, with deck, pump room and ballast tank readings taken during cargo operations and cargo tanks measured only when gas-free. Bulk carriers at the dry bulk berths allow hold and tank access as discharge progresses, and the long quays give room for systematic readings on frames, hopper tanks and bulkheads. In the inner harbour, cruise ships on the city quays are gauged within their call, and fishing vessels are measured at their own berths.

A Coruña has repair capacity for small and medium ships in the inner harbour, but large merchant ships needing a docking generally go to a yard in Ferrol, Vigo or elsewhere on the coast. Readings taken at A Coruña become a steel list that goes ahead of the ship, giving the yard a measured starting point. Anchorage work in the bay is possible in moderate conditions with a launch from the agent, though the Atlantic swell restricts it in winter. The gauges and magnetic particle yokes travel with the technicians as personal equipment.

• Punta Langosteira energy berths — deck, pump room, ballast tank and piping gauging on crude and product tankers under terminal permits
• Outer-port dry bulk berths — hold frame, hopper tank and ballast tank readings on bulk carriers during discharge
• Outer-port general and project cargo quays — deck and coaming readings on cargo ships, including wind component carriers
• Inner-harbour cruise quays — tank, machinery-space and scrubber piping gauging within the call
• Fishing harbour berths — hull, hold boundary and tank gauging on trawlers and coastal vessels
• Bay anchorage — launch-served readings on waiting ships in moderate conditions, with steel lists sent to onward yards

Coastal administration, offshore wind and EU requirements

Port state control at A Coruña falls under the Paris MoU, with inspections carried out by the Spanish maritime administration, the Dirección General de la Marina Mercante, through the Capitanía Marítima. Tankers calling at the outer port are of interest to inspectors, particularly older ones, and a measured set of ballast tank and deck readings before arrival is a practical protection for the owner. The Galician coast has a history of serious casualties, which keeps the authorities and the public attentive to the condition of tankers and bulk ships on these approaches.

EU measures add to the picture. Under the EU's ship recycling rules a hazardous-materials inventory must be on board whenever a ship enters its ports; emissions trading has covered shipping since 2024 and FuelEU Maritime since 2025, so owners with ageing tankers weigh these obligations against the remaining life of their steel. The outer port's role in Spain's plans for offshore wind brings in heavy-lift and installation vessels, whose structures take unusual loads, and gauging those ships before a campaign is a way for charterers to confirm that the hulls are fit for it.

Wherever a ship is outside a sulphur emission control area, the global 0.50% sulphur cap applies, and many of the ships calling at A Coruña meet it with an exhaust gas cleaning system rather than compliant fuel. Scrubber wash-water piping, the overboard discharge and the hull penetration around it corrode quickly in service, especially on open-loop systems, and are worth adding to the gauging scope.

How a thickness measurement job runs at A Coruña

The sequence for a thickness measurement job at A Coruña is short and written down, so the yard, the surveyor and the superintendent know who arranges what.

A Coruña's own airport, Alvedro, serves the area, with Santiago de Compostela airport as an alternative; technicians commonly connect through Madrid or Lisbon from India. The outer port is a road journey along the coast from the city. The ship's agent arranges ISPS passes at both harbours and a launch for any anchorage visit. Spain is part of the Schengen area, so each technician needs a visa obtained in India, applied for once the ship's stay is confirmed and supported by an invitation naming the vessel. Storm delays are common, so flights are booked late.

• Send the vessel name or IMO number, ship type, class society, the survey due (annual, intermediate, renewal survey number, CAP or owner's condition survey), the port and dates, and the scope you expect.
• We confirm the scope against the class rules for that survey, prepare the thickness measurement plan with frame and section references, and say whether the measurement will be credited to a class survey.
• Mobilisation is planned around visa lead times and the vessel's schedule; the ship's agent arranges port access, and the yard or ship arranges staging, lighting, ventilation and gas-free certificates.
• Gauging with calibrated ultrasonic thickness gauges: through sound coatings only where the gauge's through-coating mode has been verified on a coated reference, otherwise on cleaned bare steel, with every reading tied to its frame, strake and location on the sketch.
• Readings are compared with original thicknesses as work proceeds; substantial and excessive corrosion and any cracks are reported to the attending surveyor and the superintendent the same day.
• The final report is issued on the class thickness-measurement formats with sketches, a summary of locations exceeding the allowable margins, piping tables where piping was in scope, and the gauge calibration and technician certificates.

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