Ultrasonic Thickness Gauging for Ships in Alexandria and El Dekheila

Inspection services for ships at Alexandria

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

Where ships are gauged in Alexandria

Alexandria Shipyard is the place for in-dock gauging: bottom plating, sea chests, bilge strakes and side shell, plus holds and tanks while the repair staging is in place. As in any yard, the value lies in measuring before the repair specification is finalised, so that the owner, the yard and the attending class surveyor agree the renewal list from fresh figures rather than from the previous report alone.

Afloat, the Western Harbour and El Dekheila berths give alongside access once the agent has the gate passes in hand, and the grain berths are where empty-hold gauging is most practical. At Sidi Kerir, work on tankers follows terminal safety rules on portable equipment and permits, and is limited to the deck, the ballast tanks and any spaces the master opens. Ships waiting outside the harbour can be boarded by launch, subject to the harbour master's arrangements and the agent's booking. For UTM in Alexandria the scope is set by the window: a dock stay supports a full programme, a discharge call supports holds and tanks, and a tanker loading supports deck and ballast work.

• Alexandria Shipyard — shipbuilding and repair yard with drydock capacity; renewal-survey gauging of bottom, side shell, holds and tanks during dock stays.
• Western Harbour, Alexandria — container, general cargo, ro-ro and bulk berths; empty-hold and tank gauging after discharge, deck work during cargo operations.
• El Dekheila — container and dry-bulk berths west of the city; grain carriers' holds gauged between discharge and sailing in ballast.
• Sidi Kerir terminal — the SUMED pipeline's Mediterranean loading terminal; deck, ballast tank and deck-pipeline gauging on crude tankers under terminal rules.
• Alexandria outer anchorage — ships waiting outside the harbour for a berth; tank, hatch and deck readings taken after a launch transfer arranged by the agent.

Regulation, emissions and market context in Alexandria

Egypt carries out port state control as a member of the Mediterranean MoU, through the Egyptian Authority for Maritime Safety, and Alexandria sees a steady stream of ageing bulkers and general cargo tonnage in the grain and short-sea trades. For those ships, the structural items an inspector notices first, such as hatch coaming wastage, thinned ventilator coamings and corroded deck fittings, are the same items that become conditions of class if they are left. A recent thickness report on board, covering the areas an inspector is likely to question, shortens the conversation with class when a finding is raised.

The Mediterranean SOx emission control area took effect on 1 May 2025, so ships in Alexandria and along the Egyptian Mediterranean coast need fuel at or below 0.10% sulphur, or a scrubber, to comply. That has put scrubber wash-water and overboard piping on ships trading between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea under closer attention, because the ECA asks more of each system across the whole Mediterranean leg. Grain charter parties also bring hold condition into commercial focus: holds must be clean and fit for grain on arrival at the load port, and a ship whose frames and brackets are known to be sound is easier to fix for its next cargo.

Since 1 May 2025 the whole Mediterranean has been a sulphur emission control area, so ships calling at Alexandria burn 0.10% sulphur fuel or run a scrubber. Scrubber wash-water piping, the overboard discharge and the hull penetration around it corrode quickly in service and are worth adding to the gauging scope at every docking.

How a thickness measurement job runs at Alexandria

Most of the work on a Alexandria job happens before the team boards: scope, plan and access are settled first, so the time on board goes on measurement.

Borg El Arab International Airport serves Alexandria directly, and Cairo International Airport offers wider international connections with road transfer north to the coast. The shipyard, the harbour terminals and Sidi Kerir are all security-controlled, so the ship's agent obtains entry permits for the team and its instruments ahead of arrival, using passport details, and arranges launches for anchorage boardings. Egyptian visas for the team are arranged before travel from India; once the docking date or the discharge window is known, we fix the mobilisation around it and confirm the plan with the superintendent.

• 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.

Related