Thickness Measurement for Commercial Ships at the Port of Barrow

Inspection services for ships at Barrow-in-Furness

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

Where ships are gauged at Barrow

Commercial work takes place at ABP's quays in Ramsden Dock and the adjoining basins. Offshore support and crew transfer vessels lie at their operators' berths between trips, where hull plating, fuel and water tanks, deck structure, boarding-equipment foundations and piping can be gauged and checked for cracks. Cargo ships and coasters at the general cargo berths are worked around loading and discharge, with holds measured as they empty. The water in the docks stays at a constant level, so access is steady once a vessel is moored and the crew has prepared the spaces.

Barrow's commercial docks are not a merchant ship-repair centre, so vessels from the port are docked at yards on the Mersey, in Northern Ireland, in Scotland or further afield. The BAE Systems shipyard and its facilities are reserved for the naval programme and play no part in any commercial job. For owners, the realistic Barrow work is in-service gauging alongside, used to plan the next docking or to document condition for a charter, a sale or a survey. A vessel laid up between offshore contracts gives the longest window and allows every tank to be opened in turn.

• Offshore wind operator berths — hull, tank, deck and boarding-equipment foundation gauging on crew transfer and support vessels between trips.
• Ramsden Dock cargo quays — hold, hatch coaming and ballast tank readings on coasters and cargo ships during loading or discharge.
• Project cargo berths — deck and crane pedestal checks on heavy-lift ships while equipment is landed.
• Lay-by berths in the inner basins — longer condition surveys on vessels waiting between contracts.
• Weather downtime alongside — tank and piping programmes on small vessels kept in port by Irish Sea conditions.

Security, regulation and the energy trade at Barrow

Barrow is unusual among commercial ports because of the defence and nuclear activity around it. The submarine programme and the movement of nuclear materials bring extra security controls on parts of the dock estate on top of the normal ISPS regime, and visitors are expected to follow site rules to the letter. For commercial ships, port state control is carried out by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency under Paris MoU procedures applied through UK law, and visiting ships are expected to carry an Inventory of Hazardous Materials under the ship recycling rules the UK retained from EU legislation.

Offshore wind vessels follow their own rules. Crew transfer vessels are usually small and certified under workboat or high-speed craft codes administered by the flag state, while larger service and support vessels follow class rules and the full survey cycle. Either way, operators are under pressure to keep vessels available through the year, so inspection is planned for weather downtime or scheduled maintenance. Thickness readings on hulls, tanks and boarding-equipment foundations, and crack checks on welded structure that takes repeated impact from turbine landings, help them avoid unplanned time off hire.

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

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

Manchester Airport is the usual international gateway; from there the team takes the train north through Lancaster and around the Furness coast to Barrow, or travels by road. Technicians come from India on UK visas, and because Barrow's security arrangements add a step, we allow extra time between confirming a job and boarding. The vessel's owner or agent arranges port passes with ABP and confirms the berth, the lock time and any additional site rules before the team travels.

• 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