Ship Thickness Gauging at the Port of Corfu

Inspection services for ships at Corfu

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

Gauging at Corfu's berths and where ships dock instead

The island has a small shipyard and slipway for local craft, fishing boats and workboats, but no drydock for larger merchant ships or the big ferries. Work on the big ferries therefore happens at the quay: vehicle decks, ramps, side shell above the waterline, ballast tanks and, on cruise ships, the scrubber and sea-water pipework. When a hull docking is due, ships generally go to a yard in mainland Greece or across the Ionian Sea to Italy, and the Corfu readings are prepared for that docking.

Access depends on the berth. At the new port ferry berths, ships lie between rotations with vehicle decks empty for short periods, and the crew must agree release of the decks. Cruise berths are busier, with passengers embarking and shore excursions leaving, so gauging stays within the machinery and piping spaces the ship's engineers choose to open. In every case the ship's agent submits the technicians' details to the port authority and the ISPS security staff before arrival.

• New port ferry berths: car-deck, ramp and ballast-tank gauging on Adriatic and Ionian ro-pax ships between rotations.
• Cruise berths at the town: scrubber wash-water, sea-water piping and selected voids on cruise ships during the call.
• Old harbour quays: shell and tank readings on small coasters, tugs and workboats that use the smaller berths.
• Local slipway and small yard: hull gauging on fishing and harbour craft hauled out for survey.
• Anchorage off the town: launch-served gauging on ships waiting for a berth, weather and swell permitting.
• Handover to a docking yard: readings in TM plan format for the owner's chosen yard in Greece or Italy.

Ferries, passenger rules and Corfu's regulatory setting

Corfu is under Greek jurisdiction, with the Hellenic Coast Guard handling inspections and Paris MoU port state control applying to visiting foreign-flag ships. Ro-pax and cruise ships carry passenger-ship safety obligations that go beyond cargo ship rules, so a structural defect on a car deck or in the ballast system is a safety matter as well as a maintenance one. Coast Guard inspectors and flag state surveyors have a close view of the ferries on the Corfu run, which is a reason for owners to keep thickness records current.

Several EU rules push ferry owners to look at their steel. The Ship Recycling Regulation requires an up-to-date Inventory of Hazardous Materials, EU ETS covers passenger ships above the size threshold, and FuelEU Maritime is changing fuel choices. Older Adriatic ferries are being compared with newbuild alternatives, and thickness readings help an owner judge how many seasons remain in the hull. Cruise ships fitted with scrubbers have an added reason to measure wash-water pipework, because local discharge rules in the Ionian are applied through the port authority.

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

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

Corfu has its own international airport, with seasonal direct flights from several European cities and connections through Athens, so the team can usually reach the island without a long road transfer. Technicians from India need a Schengen visa for Greece. Because ferry and cruise timetables are fixed, mobilisation is tied to a confirmed berth and turnaround, and the agent files port access and security details with the harbour authority beforehand.

• 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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