Ultrasonic Thickness Measurement for Ships in Dublin Port

Inspection services for ships at Dublin

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

Berths in Dublin Port where gauging is done

Ferry terminals are the busiest places to work. A ro-pax ferry at Dublin may be discharging and loading freight within a few hours, so the team boards with the crew's agreement, works the vehicle decks and ramps in the areas released between trailer movements, and concentrates below decks on engine-room piping and ballast tanks prepared before arrival. Repeated calls let the programme build up without a dedicated stop, and the same reference points are used on every visit. Irish Sea ferry gauging is easiest when the chief engineer releases one or two ballast tanks per call; over a few weeks that covers the tanks a refit specification needs.

At the oil berths, terminal rules govern work on deck and tank entry, so tanker gauging in Dublin concentrates on piping and released deck areas while alongside, with tank work planned for a gas-free window. Lo-lo terminals, bulk berths and the cruise berths offer simpler access, and ships waiting at the Dublin Bay anchorage can be reached by launch through the ship's agent when sea conditions allow, which on an exposed bay is not every day. Cruise ships at the cruise berths are in for a day, which suits engine-room and scrubber piping as one stage of a programme spread across the itinerary.

• Ro-ro and ro-pax ferry terminals — vehicle-deck, ramp, bow-door and ballast tank checks on Irish Sea and continental ferries, staged over consecutive calls.
• Oil berths — while a product or chemical tanker discharges, UT of deck cargo lines, ballast piping and released deck areas inside the terminal's permit rules.
• Lo-lo container terminals — upper-deck and hatch coaming gauging on feeder container ships during cargo work.
• Bulk and common-user berths — fertiliser and feed carriers alongside for days, long enough for hopper and hold readings once residues are washed out.
• Dublin Bay anchorage — tanker tank work in a gas-free window, or deck readings on cargo ships held off the port, when the bay is calm enough to board.

EU rules, port state control and the post-Brexit Irish Sea

Ireland applies EU maritime law in full. Port state control is carried out by the Marine Survey Office of the Department of Transport as a member of the Paris MoU. Alongside, the EU Sulphur Directive applies: a ship at a Dublin berth beyond two hours must switch to 0.10% sulphur fuel. The EU ETS has covered shipping since 2024, with voyages between Dublin and other EU ports counted in full and those to Holyhead or Liverpool counted at half, and FuelEU Maritime has applied since 2025 on the same basis.

The Irish Sea lies outside the existing SOx ECAs, but the North-East Atlantic ECA adopted by the IMO in 2026 covers Ireland's waters and will require 0.10% sulphur fuel at sea from 1 September 2028. For ferry and tanker operators on Irish routes, that date and their EU ETS obligations now weigh in decisions on fuel, scrubbers and fleet renewal, and owners extending an older ferry's working life need reliable steel-condition data to justify it to class, to lenders and to themselves. Hull gauging in Ireland is increasingly part of that conversation rather than a box ticked at the refit.

Wherever a ship is outside a sulphur emission control area, the global 0.50% sulphur cap applies, and many of the ships calling at Dublin meet it with an exhaust gas cleaning system rather than compliant fuel. Scrubber wash-water piping, the overboard discharge and the hull penetration around it corrode quickly in service, especially on open-loop systems, and are worth adding to the gauging scope.

How a thickness measurement job runs at Dublin

The sequence for a thickness measurement job at Dublin is short and written down, so the yard, the surveyor and the superintendent know who arranges what.

Dublin Airport is the arrival point, with direct connections from European and Gulf hubs, and the port is a short drive away through the Dublin Port Tunnel. Port terminals and berths are ISPS-controlled, with passes arranged by the ship's agent; launches for Dublin Bay are booked the same way. Ireland is outside both the Schengen area and the UK visa system, so the team travels from India on Irish visas, and a trip that also covers a UK port has to satisfy UK entry rules too; we plan both around the vessel's schedule.

• 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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