Ship Thickness Measurement at the Port of Gruž, Dubrovnik

Inspection services for ships at Dubrovnik

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

Where ships can be gauged in and around Gruž

Most gauging in Dubrovnik is carried out afloat. Cruise ships on the Gruž berths can be worked on scrubber discharge lines, sea water cooling pipes and accessible tank boundaries during the call, once the master and chief engineer agree the spaces and the safety arrangements. Ferries on the Bari service and island lines stand at their own quays between sailings and overnight, and their vehicle decks and ramps are the usual first scope. The ship's agent, or the operator for ferries, arranges port passes, escort and any launch to the outer anchorage.

Heavy repair capacity in the immediate area is limited and aimed at small craft, so ships that need a full docking normally go to Split, Rijeka or a yard across the border in Montenegro. Gauging at Gruž before the ship sails lets the yard estimate steel from readings instead of guesses, and the same technicians can then travel on to the yard for the docking survey, keeping measurement points consistent. Lay-up of small ferries and workboats in winter, where it happens afloat, gives longer working windows than any call day.

• Gruž cruise berths: scrubber overboard piping and technical spaces on cruise ships during the call, with passengers ashore
• Island ferry quays at Gruž: vehicle deck, ramp and ballast tank gauging between Elafiti and Mljet sailings
• Bari ro-pax berth: deck, stern door and tank gauging on the cross-Adriatic ferry between crossings
• General cargo and fuel quays: hatch covers, holds and deck piping on coasters during or after cargo work
• Outer anchorage off the old town: condition gauging by launch for charter, sale and off-hire checks in suitable weather
• Winter lay-by berths in the inlet: longer-window gauging of ferries and workboats out of season

Port state control, EU rules and emissions context at Dubrovnik

Croatia is a Paris MoU member and part of the EU, so foreign ships in Dubrovnik are subject to the same port state control inspections as ships in Italian, Greek or French ports. Passenger ships in scheduled service, including the ro-pax ferries and the cruise ships that run regular itineraries, also fall under the additional EU inspection rules for passenger ro-ro craft. The national maritime administration sits in the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, and Croatian-flag ferries are normally classed with the Croatian Register of Shipping, whose headquarters is a short coastal run north in Split.

EU measures shape owners' choices at Dubrovnik. Ships calling at EU ports have to carry an Inventory of Hazardous Materials under the EU Ship Recycling Regulation, which draws attention to older steel and coatings, and EU ETS and FuelEU Maritime set a carbon charge and an intensity target for voyages that start or end in the EU. For older ferries and coasters, those obligations sit next to steel condition when owners decide whether to docking-repair or retire a ship. Gauging results feed that decision directly, because a hull with measured margin can stay on the route and a hull with substantial corrosion cannot.

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

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

Dubrovnik Airport at Ćilipi, south of the city, has European connections that thin out in winter, and Zagreb or Split offer alternatives with long road transfers. The ship's agent arranges ISPS passes for the Gruž quays and a launch for ships at the outer anchorage. Croatia is in the Schengen area, so the team from India travels on Schengen visas, and we ask for the sailing schedule early enough to allow for appointment lead times at the consulate.

• 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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