Ultrasonic Thickness Measurement for Ships in the Ría de Avilés

Inspection services for ships at Avilés

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

Where a ship can be gauged in and around Avilés

Most work is done alongside at the industrial quays once discharge has opened the holds. Bulk carriers at the ore and coal berths can be gauged hold by hold as the grabs clear each space, subject to the terminal's safety rules and the ship's enclosed-space entry procedure. General cargo and metal carriers at the multipurpose quays allow access to the tank top, the hatch coamings and the underside of the hatch covers between cargo operations. Scrap and fertiliser calls are shorter, so the programme is cut down to the spaces that matter most.

Avilés is not a large-drydock port. Ships needing a dock for steel renewal normally go to a larger yard elsewhere on the northern or Galician coast, and readings taken in Avilés become the starting steel list for that docking. Small repair yards and slipways on the ría deal with coasters, tugs and workboats, and a technician team can gauge there when a vessel is hauled out. Anchorage work outside the breakwaters depends on sea state and is arranged through the ship's agent with a launch, but it is rarely the first choice on this exposed coast.

• Ore, coal and bulk quays serving the steelworks: hold frame, tank top and hopper tank gauging during and after discharge
• Multipurpose and metal-products quays: deck, coaming and hatch cover gauging on coil, plate and aluminium carriers
• San Juan de Nieva outer area: general cargo and fertiliser berths for shorter-stay structural readings
• Small ship-repair yards and slipways on the ría: coasters, tugs and workboats hauled for repair
• Anchorage off the breakwaters: pre-arrival gauging by launch when sea state allows
• Larger yards on the northern coast: docking-stage gauging after steel lists are prepared in Avilés

Port state control and the steel-trade backdrop

Ships calling at Avilés are inspected under the Paris MoU regime, carried out in Spain by marine inspectors attached to the Capitanía Marítima under the Dirección General de la Marina Mercante. Older bulk carriers and small general cargo ships on tramp rotations are frequent subjects, and inspectors pay close attention to hull condition, hatch covers and the state of cargo holds. A recent set of thickness readings gives the master something solid to show if structural questions arise, and gives the owner a record that stands independently of the last class report.

The EU Ship Recycling Regulation requires ships calling at EU ports to carry an Inventory of Hazardous Materials, and some owners combine IHM verification work with a structural check when a ship is approaching the end of its trading life. Carbon rules now bite on bulk tonnage too, because EU ETS covers voyages between EU ports and part of those starting or ending outside, and FuelEU Maritime has followed. A ship that must justify a retrofit or a long-term employment on the steel trade often asks first what steel it still has, and a gauging report is where that answer starts.

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

A gauging job at Avilés runs the same way whatever the ship type. The sequence below is what the superintendent, the attending surveyor and the yard can expect from us.

Technicians usually fly from India to a European hub and then to Asturias Airport, which lies a short distance from the port, with Bilbao as an alternative when connections suit. Terminal access is arranged by the ship's agent, who also books a launch for any anchorage work. Spain is in the Schengen area, so visas must be issued before travel, and the team plans around that lead time and the vessel's expected arrival, especially in winter when weather can move the berthing time.

• 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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