Ship Gauging and Hull Thickness Measurement at the Port of Aveiro

Inspection services for ships at Aveiro

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

Where gauging can be done at Aveiro

The port has a ship repair yard serving coasters, fishing vessels and workboats, and this is the place where bottom and side shell gauging out of the water is possible. Navalria is the yard name usually associated with the port's shipbuilding and repair, and ships docked there can have shell plating, sea chests and the rudder and propeller area measured with staging and access arranged by the yard. Ships too large for the yard's facilities dock elsewhere in Portugal or in Galicia, and Aveiro then supports the gauging afloat before the move.

At the cargo quays, holds on bulk carriers and coasters can be gauged once discharge is complete and the holds are cleaned and ventilated. Tank spaces on small tankers or general cargo ships with ballast tanks are accessible when the crew has emptied and released them. Fishing vessels at lay-by berths are gauged for owners who want a condition check ahead of a survey or a sale. Access to each berth and to the yard is arranged through the ship's agent, and each compartment is entered only under the ship's own permit system.

• Cargo quays at Gafanha — hold, coaming and tank-top gauging on bulk carriers and coasters after discharge.
• Ship repair yard on the lagoon — shell, sea chest, rudder and propeller-area gauging during dockings of coasters and fishing vessels.
• Lay-by berths — owner's condition gauging of idle coasters and fishing vessels.
• Ro-ro and container berth — deck, ramp and ballast-tank readings on small short-sea ships.
• Fishing harbour basins — hull and tank gauging on trawlers before surveys or sales.
• Pre-docking calls — afloat gauging that feeds steel estimates for yards in Aveiro, Galicia or elsewhere in Portugal.

Port state control and the rules around Aveiro

Portugal participates in the Paris MoU, and port state control inspections at Aveiro follow the same risk-based method as elsewhere in the region. They are carried out under the Directorate-General for Natural Resources, Safety and Maritime Services, abbreviated DGRM, while the local harbour master's office handles day-to-day maritime administration. Older coasters with a history of structural wastage are inspected more often, and a recent gauging report lets the superintendent see what an inspector might find in holds and ballast tanks.

EU regulations influence small-ship owners as well. The EU ETS has covered shipping since 2024 and FuelEU Maritime has applied since 2025, though smaller coasters fall outside parts of both, depending on tonnage. The EU Ship Recycling Regulation asks for an Inventory of Hazardous Materials on ships calling at EU ports. For Aveiro's typical customers, the main driver for gauging is the class survey cycle and the commercial decision to renew steel or retire an older hull. Fishing vessels follow their own flag-state and class requirements, and we scope their gauging accordingly.

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

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

The nearest international airport is Porto's Francisco Sá Carneiro, with Lisbon an alternative for longer connections; both are reachable by road. Technicians from India travel through a European hub. The ship's agent arranges port and yard access and any launch needed. Portugal is in the Schengen area, so Schengen visas are obtained in India before departure, and the application starts once the arrival or docking date is firm and the owner has supplied an invitation letter. Because bar conditions can move arrival dates, travel is confirmed against the agent's most recent update.

• 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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