Hull and Structure Thickness Gauging at Castellammare di Stabia

Inspection services for ships at Castellammare di Stabia

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

Where gauging can be carried out around Castellammare di Stabia

Most gauging in Castellammare takes place inside or beside the shipyard, under its site rules and permit system, with access arranged by the owner or by the yard's project team. Ships under construction or in fit-out can be measured at the quay while tanks are accessible and staging is in place; completed hulls can be gauged before delivery to give the owner a baseline of key structure. Because the yard controls access to enclosed spaces, gas-free certification and entry permits follow the yard's procedures, and our team coordinates sequencing with the planner to avoid clashing with trades working in the same areas.

Outside the yard, the harbour offers only limited berths, so ships needing a full docking survey normally go to Naples or Palermo, both well-equipped for repair work. Castellammare is therefore best seen as one stop in a Bay of Naples programme: gauging at the yard for a new or newly refitted ship, then a visit to Naples for older ships in dock, and a call at Salerno for ro-ro and container tonnage. A launch can take the team to ships at anchor in the bay when an owner wants condition readings on a vessel waiting for a berth.

• Fincantieri's Castellammare yard — baseline thickness readings on ships under construction, in fit-out or approaching delivery, to the owner's measurement plan
• Yard fitting-out quays — afloat gauging of tanks, decks and structure while systems are installed and spaces remain accessible
• Refit and repair berths — post-repair verification of renewed plate and reinforced areas on ships returned to the yard
• Local harbour quays — small ferries, coasters and workboats gauged alongside during layover or lay-up
• Bay of Naples anchorage — pre-purchase and condition gauging on ships waiting to enter port or changing hands, using a launch
• Naples and Salerno — neighbouring commercial and repair ports that can be combined with a Castellammare visit in one mobilisation

Shipbuilding rules, port control and why baselines matter

Foreign merchant ships calling in the Naples system are selected for port state control inspection under the Paris MoU, carried out by the Italian Coast Guard, the Guardia Costiera. At a shipyard the picture differs: vessels under construction are controlled by the classification society and the builder's quality system, and the owner's superintendent or attending team checks the work against specification. Independent thickness measurements in this setting give the owner a record of its own, separate from the yard's inspection documents, which can be consulted if questions arise during the warranty period or at the first renewal survey.

Rules that apply across the EU also matter. The Ship Recycling Regulation asks for an Inventory of Hazardous Materials on ships calling at EU ports, and a well-organised newbuild or conversion project will already have one. EU ETS and FuelEU Maritime shape how owners value hull efficiency and how long they plan to keep older tonnage. For a ship that has just left a yard like Castellammare, a baseline gauging record reduces the uncertainty around future steel renewal decisions, because later readings can be compared against known starting values.

Since 1 May 2025 the whole Mediterranean has been a sulphur emission control area, so ships calling at Castellammare di Stabia 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 Castellammare di Stabia

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

Naples International Airport is the closest main gateway and Castellammare di Stabia is reached from it by road or by the regional Circumvesuviana rail line; Rome Fiumicino provides additional long-haul connections. Access to the yard is controlled and arranged through the owner or the yard's project office, while the agent handles access for commercial quays and arranges a launch for ships at anchor. The team comes from India and needs Schengen visas, so visa processing should be planned from the moment a yard schedule is confirmed.

• 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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