Ship Hull and Deck Gauging in Brindisi, Gateway to Greece

Inspection services for ships at Brindisi

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

Where gauging happens in Brindisi: ferry berths, tanker jetties and outer quays

Ferry gauging takes place at the passenger berths on the Costa Morena side, during turnaround. A ro-pax ship usually has a few hours between disembarkation and the next boarding, and a well-prepared job fits inside that: the vehicle deck is cleared, the ramp is lowered, and readings are taken along marked lines on plating, stiffeners and ramp hinges. Off season, ferries lay by for longer, and the same ship can have its ballast tanks and void spaces measured at leisure. Class surveyors attend when readings are meant for the survey file.

Industrial berths work differently. Tanker jetties in the energy and petrochemical zone apply their own permit rules, so deck and piping gauging goes ahead during cargo operations under the terminal's safety conditions, and entry to cargo tanks is left for a yard. The port has no large commercial drydock of its own, so owners dock ships at yards elsewhere in Italy, Greece, Malta or Croatia, and a measured steel estimate prepared at Brindisi helps the chosen yard to plan renewal. Ships waiting for a berth lie at anchor in the outer roads, where owner's condition checks of accessible spaces are possible in calm weather.

• Costa Morena ferry berths — vehicle deck plating, stiffeners, ramps and ballast tanks of ro-pax ships gauged during turnaround between sailings
• Cruise berths — selected ballast tanks, voids and scrubber lines on cruise ships alongside, between passenger operations
• Tanker jetties in the energy and petrochemical zone — deck, deck piping and permitted ballast spaces on product and chemical tankers
• Outer harbour bulk and general cargo quays — hold frames, hatch covers and coamings after discharge on coal and dry bulk ships
• Outer anchorage — condition checks on ships waiting for a berth or laid up, reached by launch through the ship's agent

Port state control and regulation for ferry and energy shipping at Brindisi

Port state control at Brindisi is carried out by the Italian Coast Guard through the harbour master (Capitaneria di Porto), within the Paris MoU. Ro-pax ferries are additionally subject to the EU's regime of mandatory surveys for regular passenger services, which makes a continuous record of deck and ramp condition useful to owners who must show surveyors that wear is under control. Bulk carriers and tankers face ESP requirements, and the ship risk profile decides how often an older vessel is boarded. Structural deficiencies are one of the categories that can lead to detention.

Brindisi's role as a gateway to Greece and Albania has commercial consequences. Ferry operators run old tonnage hard through peak summers, and owners looking at a sale, a charter extension or a refit need credible wall-thickness figures. The EU Ship Recycling Regulation asks ships calling at EU ports to carry an Inventory of Hazardous Materials, and EU ETS and FuelEU Maritime shape the economics of keeping older ships in service. For energy-trade tankers the charterer's vetting inspector also reads the structural record, and a recent set of gauging results saves long discussions.

Since 1 May 2025 the whole Mediterranean has been a sulphur emission control area, so ships calling at Brindisi burn 0.10% sulphur fuel or run a scrubber. Scrubber wash-water piping, the overboard discharge and the hull penetration around it corrode quickly in service and are worth adding to the gauging scope at every docking.

How a thickness measurement job runs at Brindisi

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

Brindisi Airport, Salento, is close to the port, and Bari airport is a longer road alternative with more connections. The ship's agent books ISPS passes and any terminal induction for the tanker jetties and passenger berths. Our technicians are Indian nationals who travel on Schengen visas, so we start the application as the call is confirmed, and fix flights once the ferry's turnaround slot or the tanker's berth time is certain. Because ferries sail on fixed times, a late arrival of the team shortens the work window, which is why we travel a day ahead.

• 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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