Ship Gauging for Ferries and Cargo Ships at Caen-Ouistreham

Inspection services for ships at Caen-Ouistreham

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

Where thickness gauging is done at Caen-Ouistreham

On the ferry berths at Ouistreham the usable spaces are the ones that are free of passengers and vehicles. Vehicle decks can be gauged when they are empty, between the last vehicle off and the first on, though a short turnaround leaves only a section at a time. Ballast tanks, voids, the engine room and the machinery spaces are less affected by the turnaround and can be worked while the ship is alongside, subject to the ship's permit system. The ferry's own crew prepare access in advance, and the technicians board with the first vehicles off.

On the cargo side the work is quieter. A coaster or small bulk carrier locked into the Orne canal and lying at a Caen quay can have its holds gauged once they are empty and clean, with coamings, hatch covers and the tank top measured over a morning, and ballast tanks added by a second pair. Product tankers at the oil quays follow the terminal's rules, with ballast tanks and deck work the usual scope. Ships that must dock leave the port for a repair yard in another French port or abroad, which makes the readings taken here useful as a steel estimate.

• Ouistreham ferry berths — vehicle deck plating, ramps and ballast tanks gauged during layovers and quiet hours between sailings.
• Ouistreham outer harbour — machinery space piping and sea-water system checks on ferries that lie alongside for an extended stay.
• Sea lock approaches — launch-free readings on cargo ships that wait for the tide to enter the canal, where the ship's agent allows access.
• Caen canal quays — hold, coaming, hatch cover and tank top gauging on coasters and small bulk carriers.
• Caen oil and bulk quays — ballast tank and deck gauging on product tankers and aggregate carriers within the terminal's safety rules.

Regulation and the Channel ferry trade

France applies the Paris MoU for port state control, with inspections carried out by the Centres de sécurité des navires of the French maritime administration. A ro-pax ferry is a particular focus because it carries the public, and its structure, watertight arrangements and fire-fighting systems are under continual scrutiny from flag, class and port state. Thickness readings on vehicle decks, ramps and the lower hull show where wear is developing and let the superintendent plan steel renewal at the next refit, instead of finding it during a survey.

Passenger ships are not ESP ships, so their gauging follows the class society's survey rules for passenger ship hulls, with extent growing at each special survey. Cargo ships calling at Caen face the Enhanced Survey Programme if they are bulk carriers or tankers. All calls to EU ports fall under EU ETS and FuelEU Maritime, and ships over 500 gross tonnage need an Inventory of Hazardous Materials to meet the EU Ship Recycling Regulation. Operators of the ferries gauge their ships on a rolling basis because a seasonal programme with dense sailings leaves little spare time in dock.

Ships trading to Caen-Ouistreham are inside a sulphur emission control area, where fuel must not exceed 0.10% sulphur unless an exhaust gas cleaning system (scrubber) is fitted. Scrubber wash-water piping, the overboard discharge and the hull penetration around it are among the fastest-corroding parts of a modern ship, so they belong in the gauging scope at every docking and, on open-loop systems, between dockings.

How a thickness measurement job runs at Caen-Ouistreham

A gauging job at Caen-Ouistreham 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 normally fly into Paris and continue to Caen by train, a route that reaches the city in a short rail journey, and the ferry terminal is a short road transfer from there. A small airport serves the Caen area but is rarely the practical choice from India. The ship's agent arranges ISPS passes for the ferry terminal or the canal quays. France is in the Schengen area, so each technician needs a Schengen visa, which we apply for once the call or layover is confirmed, supported by an invitation letter from the owner or operator naming the ship.

• 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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