Ship Thickness Measurement and Hull Gauging in Aqaba, Jordan

Inspection services for ships at Aqaba

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

Where gauging happens in Aqaba

Gauging at Aqaba is done afloat, and the industrial terminals are where most of the hull work concentrates. A bulk carrier arriving in ballast to load phosphate or potash has empty holds before loading starts, and that is the moment to measure frames, brackets, hopper plating and tank tops; once loading begins, attention turns to the ballast tanks, deck plating and hatch covers. The terminals run their own safety and dust-control rules, and access is arranged through the agent and the terminal operator before the team arrives at the berth.

Elsewhere in the port, the container terminal and the general cargo and ro-ro berths allow deck, coaming, vehicle deck and accessible tank gauging during cargo calls, and the oil and LNG terminals allow deck and ballast work under their permit systems. Ships waiting for a berth can be boarded by launch where the harbour authority allows it. Where a ship's next docking is at Suez or in the Gulf, the Aqaba readings travel with it, so the yard has measured wastage before the ship arrives and the docking period can be planned from figures rather than from the previous survey alone.

• Aqaba industrial terminals — phosphate, potash and fertiliser loading berths near the Saudi border; empty-hold gauging of frames, hopper plating and tank tops before loading.
• Aqaba Container Terminal — container calls on Red Sea and international services; deck, hatch coaming, scrubber piping and accessible tank gauging alongside.
• Grain and general cargo berths — wheat and barley imports and project cargo; hold gauging after discharge and deck work during cargo operations.
• Oil and LNG terminals — crude, product and LNG imports; deck, ballast tank and deck-piping gauging under the terminals' permit systems.
• Ro-ro and ferry berths — vehicle imports and passenger services to Egypt; vehicle deck, ramp and tank gauging between calls.

Jordanian port state control, the economic zone and the Red Sea route

Port state control at Aqaba is carried out by Jordan's maritime authority under the Mediterranean MoU. The port lies inside the Aqaba Special Economic Zone, which has its own customs and administrative arrangements, so passes, equipment clearance and terminal access all run through the ship's agent. In the Gulf of Aqaba only the global 0.50% sulphur cap applies, but ships on services that continue through Suez enter the Mediterranean ECA as they leave the canal at Port Said, which keeps scrubber piping condition on the agenda for container lines calling here.

Ships coming from the Mediterranean reach Aqaba through Suez and the Strait of Tiran without passing the Bab el-Mandeb, while ships from Asia, the Gulf and East Africa must transit the southern Red Sea, an area of attacks on merchant shipping since late 2023. That distinction affects which services call and how owners route them, and attendance at Aqaba is planned within each owner's security guidance. For Jordanian importers and mineral exporters, Aqaba remains the country's only sea gateway, so its cargo flows keep bringing bulk carriers, tankers and LNG carriers to its berths.

Wherever a ship is outside a sulphur emission control area, the global 0.50% sulphur cap applies, and many of the ships calling at Aqaba 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 Aqaba

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

King Hussein International Airport in Aqaba is the nearest arrival point, and Queen Alia International Airport near Amman offers wider connections with a road transfer south to the coast. The port terminals are ISPS-controlled and sit inside the special economic zone, so the ship's agent sorts out personal passes and an equipment clearance, using passport details supplied in advance, and books a launch for any boarding away from the berth. Each technician's Jordanian visa is secured before departure from India, so knowing the ETA or loading window early is what fixes the mobilisation date.

• 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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