Ultrasonic Hull Gauging in Dieppe, Normandy

Inspection services for ships at Dieppe

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

Where ships can be gauged at Dieppe

The ferry berth is a working terminal with ramps and passenger buildings, so gauging there concentrates on what the crew can release during the layover. Vehicle deck plating, ramp structure, machinery piping and the scrubber lines of ferries that have them are the usual targets, with tanks added when the schedule allows. Larger scope, such as full ballast tank and shell programmes, is usually done in a refit period, and the readings taken at Dieppe help the yard define the steel scope.

The commercial quays take reefers, timber ships and aggregate carriers for a day or two at a time, and a team can gauge hatch covers, coamings, deck plating and the accessible tanks during cargo gaps. In the fishing basin, trawlers lie alongside between trips, and the owner or skipper can release tanks, fish holds and deck areas for gauging when the boat is cleaned. Dieppe's repair capacity suits smaller boats and workboats, and ships needing a full docking generally go to a larger yard in another port.

• Ferry berth — vehicle deck, ramp and machinery piping gauging between sailings and during layovers.
• Commercial quays — hatch cover, coaming, deck and tank gauging on reefers, timber ships and aggregate carriers.
• Fishing basin — hull, tank and deck gauging on scallop trawlers and smaller boats between trips.
• Inner basin lay-by berths — longer condition gauging on coasters and workboats laid by between jobs.
• Outer harbour and roads — anchorage work on waiting ships when the sea allows a launch.

French port state control, the SECA and the cross-Channel link at Dieppe

In France, the Centres de sécurité des navires of the Affaires maritimes administration carry out port state control under the Paris MoU, and ships calling at Dieppe may be inspected like any others in the Channel. Ro-pax ferries are subject to the EU survey regime for ferries on regular service, and their class society sets the extent of structural gauging. Fishing vessels follow French fishing vessel safety rules and many are unclassed, so a thickness report often serves an owner, a buyer or an insurer.

Dieppe lies in the part of the Channel covered by the North Sea SECA, so scrubber-fitted ships run their wash-water systems on every sailing and overboard piping is a high-wear item. The EU emissions trading scheme and FuelEU Maritime apply to the larger ships, and the Inventory of Hazardous Materials is required for those above the size threshold. For owners of older coasters and reefers, a clear measured record of steel condition makes it easier to decide whether to refit, sell or retire the ship.

Ships trading to Dieppe 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 Dieppe

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

Paris Charles de Gaulle is the usual arrival point, with onward travel by rail or road through Rouen to Dieppe; Rouen and Beauvais regional airports are alternatives. Technicians travel from India on Schengen visas applied for when dates are firm, with an invitation letter from the owner or manager. Access to the ferry terminal, the quays and the fishing basin is arranged through the ship's agent or the owner, and plans allow for tide and weather at the harbour entrance.

• 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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