Ship Gauging and UTM at Brăila on the Danube

Inspection services for ships at Brăila

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

Where ships can be gauged at Brăila

Brăila has long-established river repair facilities, but their capacity and operating status vary, so a superintendent planning a docking or a lift should confirm with the ship's agent what the yards on the river offer for the required dates. For gauging that does not need a dock, the quays are the main working place: after a ship has been discharged and before it loads, empty holds can be measured at frames, tank top, hoppers and bulkheads, and ballast tanks and deck plating can be reached at the same time.

Barges and river-sea ships also lie along the riverbank in fleeting areas and at lay-by berths between voyages. Those quiet positions are well suited to a deliberate programme, with tank ventilation and entry permits organised in advance and the measurement grid worked through methodically. Bottom plating below the waterline cannot be measured from outside on a floating ship, so where an owner wants complete coverage, the sensible sequence is to measure internal structure at Brăila and complete the shell during a docking at Galați, Constanța or another yard.

• Public cargo quays — grain, oilseeds, metal products and general cargo; empty holds and deck gauged between discharge and loading.
• Grain terminal berths — loading points for bulk carriers; hold frames, hoppers and hatch coamings measured in clean holds before cargo.
• River repair yards — ship and barge repair on the Danube; scope and capacity to be confirmed before a docking is planned.
• Barge fleeting and lay-by berths — convoys and river-sea ships between voyages; tank and shell gauging where access allows.
• River anchorage — ships awaiting a berth in the busy season; deck and ballast tank measurement by boat with the agent's help.

Danube rules, port state control and trade conditions

Port state control for seagoing ships at Brăila is exercised by the Romanian Naval Authority under the Paris MoU and the Black Sea MoU. Because many ships here are older, expanded inspection is a real possibility, and structural findings on hatch coamings, deck fittings and ballast tanks are the kind that can lead to a deficiency. If those areas have already been measured, the owner can answer an inspector's questions with figures, and decide on repairs before the ship comes up for inspection instead of after.

Rules from the EU apply as for any Romanian port: the Inventory of Hazardous Materials for ships entering Union ports, emissions trading for qualifying voyages and FuelEU Maritime. On the Danube, there are further practical limits, among them the height under the bridge near the city, water level in the river and winter ice in cold years. Since 2022, Ukrainian cargo has also been moving through the Danube system, which has made the lower river busier and the berths more crowded than in earlier years, but it has not changed how gauging is done.

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

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

The usual route is Bucharest Henri Coandă Airport followed by a journey of a few hours by road or rail, with Galați reachable on the way for ships at both ports. The quays and yards are controlled facilities, so the ship's agent applies for access for each technician and the instruments from passport details sent in advance. Romania is within Schengen, so the team coming from India needs Schengen visas, and we fix travel dates around the visa decision and the ship's berthing window.

• 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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