Hull and Tank Gauging on the Gironde, from Le Verdon to Bordeaux

Inspection services for ships at Bordeaux

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

Gauging locations along the Gironde

Most gauging is done alongside at the working terminals. At Ambès and Pauillac the terminals operate strict permit-to-work systems for tankers, so ballast tanks and void spaces are entered only with the ship's enclosed-space permit and the terminal's agreement. At Bassens and the grain quays, bulk carriers can be gauged between discharge and loading, when the holds are clean and the ship's staff can release the spaces. Le Verdon is the practical choice for ro-ro and container ships and for anything waiting at anchor.

Bordeaux has a ship-repair tradition on the upstream side of the port, with repair quays and a dry dock used for river-sea ships, workboats and smaller merchant ships. Its present capacity should be confirmed with the port authority and the yard before it is built into a plan. For larger ships that need a dry docking, the owner usually looks to a yard on the Atlantic coast of Spain or elsewhere in France, and the Gironde call becomes the pre-docking gauging stop.

• Le Verdon deep-water quays, for ro-ro, container and bulk ship gauging with launch access to the roads.
• Pauillac oil and ro-ro berths, for ballast tank, deck and ramp gauging within terminal permit rules.
• Ambès petroleum and chemical terminals, for tanker ballast tank and cofferdam gauging.
• Bassens grain, wood and general cargo quays, for hold, hopper tank and hatch coaming gauging.
• City quays at Bordeaux, for river cruise ships, small coasters and workboats alongside.
• Estuary anchorage off Le Verdon, for work on ships waiting for the tide or a berth, weather permitting.

Port state control and shipping rules on the Gironde

France applies port state control under the Paris MoU, carried out by the maritime administration's ship safety centres, and ships at any Gironde terminal can be selected for inspection. For older tankers and bulkers, an inspector who finds heavy corrosion or deck wastage can raise deficiencies that delay sailing, so owners with ageing ships often commission gauging before the call rather than after a detention.

Several rules shape gauging demand here. Tankers loading at Ambès and Pauillac fall under the enhanced survey programme and the oil company vetting process, and chemical tankers face their own survey extent. The EU Ship Recycling Regulation requires an inventory of hazardous materials on ships calling at EU ports, EU ETS applies to emissions on voyages into and out of the Gironde, and FuelEU Maritime sets greenhouse gas intensity limits for fuel used on those calls. These do not change how steel is measured, but they push owners to look at ship condition when a ship's future trading is under review.

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

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

Bordeaux-Mérignac airport is the usual arrival point and sits within road reach of the upstream terminals and the estuary. Reaching Le Verdon or Pauillac takes a longer road transfer, which the agent helps plan. France is in the Schengen area, so each technician travels on a Schengen visa from India, and the lead time is driven by the visa rather than the road. Gate passes for each terminal are arranged by the ship's agent, and the port's access rules change from terminal to terminal.

• 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