Ultrasonic Thickness Measurement for Ships in Albania

Where ships are gauged in Albania

Durrës is Albania's largest port and its main gateway. It sits on a sheltered bay near Tirana, receives passenger and vehicle ferries from Italy, and handles containers, bulk cargo and general cargo. For a ship in a Durrës berth, hull sections reachable from the quay and tanks accessible from inside the ship can be gauged within the cargo and sailing schedule.

Vlorë lies in the south, on a deep bay off the Adriatic and Ionian junction. It handles bulk cargo, general cargo and oil products, and it has a passenger link to Italy. Local repair capacity is limited, so ships needing a dock typically go to Italy, Croatia, Montenegro or Greece. That makes Albanian gauging largely a pre-docking and condition-assessment job, planned at the call where the ship has the longest stay.

Port state control and the rules that apply

Albania is not an EU member. Port state control is the responsibility of the General Maritime Directorate, working with the harbour authorities, and the country takes part in regional port state control arrangements for the Mediterranean and Adriatic. The ship's agent confirms the current framework and any detention rules for each call, since these differ from the Paris MoU states across the Adriatic.

The Mediterranean emission control area covers the Adriatic and Ionian Seas, so the tightened sulphur limit under MARPOL Annex VI, regulation 14, applies to ships in Albanian waters. Because Albania is outside the EU, the EU Ship Recycling Regulation does not apply directly; owners weighing a sale for recycling look to the Hong Kong Convention and the law of the country where the ship would be broken up.

What a gauging job looks like on an Albanian call

We begin from the ship's thickness measurement plan and her most recent survey report, which show where readings are needed. Ahead of arrival the master identifies the tanks that are clean and gas-free and the agent fixes the berth or anchorage. The team marks the plan against the ship, takes readings with calibrated gauges and records each against its location.

The window depends on the ship. A ferry at Durrës turns around between sailings, a coastal tanker may wait for a discharge berth, and a bulk carrier stays as long as cargo handling takes. We size the scope to the actual stay and cover the most critical areas first, so that a short call still delivers a usable steel list.

Because many ships leave Albania for a yard in another country, the report is written to be handed on: as-built, measured and diminution values at each point, photographs and a marked plan, with a steel renewal estimate the receiving yard can plan its work on. Where wastage is general, the report says so and recommends where more readings are needed.

Which services Albanian calls ask for

Pre-docking hull gauging is the most common request, because ships often leave Albania for a yard elsewhere. Tankers and bulk carriers are gauged in their tanks once cleaning and gas-freeing are done. Pre-purchase and on-hire gauging comes up where ships on regional trades change hands, and piping checks, including scrubber wash-water lines, follow where the ship has an exhaust gas cleaning system.

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