Ultrasonic Thickness Measurement for Fishing Vessels and Barges in Egersund

Inspection services for ships at Egersund

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

Quays, yard berths and lay-by space in Egersund

Fishing vessels are gauged alongside at the fish-factory quays or at lay-by berths in the harbour, once the crew or a shore contractor has cleaned and ventilated the tanks to be entered. RSW tanks must be pumped dry, washed and certified safe, because decomposing fish residues can release hydrogen sulphide and use up oxygen; the enclosed-space entry permit is issued by the vessel before anyone goes in, and the atmosphere is tested again during the work. Reefer ships at the processing plants' quays can have ballast tanks, deck plating and hatch coamings measured during loading, provided the team stays out of the way of the cargo flow.

At the fabrication yard, barges and heavy-lift ships lie at the load-out quay while sea fastening, ballasting and lifting are prepared, and measurement is fitted around the yard's programme and its permit system. Pelagic vessels usually dock at the specialist fishing-vessel yards further up the west coast, while barges and heavy-lift ships dock wherever their owners hold contracts. Readings taken in Egersund give those yards a realistic steel list before the vessel arrives, which shortens the time in dock and avoids surprises once the hull is dry.

• Fish-factory quays — RSW tank, hull and fish-handling structure gauging on pelagic vessels between landings or seasons.
• Lay-by berths in the harbour — longer condition surveys on fishing vessels laid up between seasons, with time to clean and open tanks in sequence.
• Fabrication-yard load-out quay — deck plating, internal framing and ballast tank readings on transport barges and heavy-lift ships before loading.
• Processing-plant quays used for reefer loading — ballast tank, deck and coaming measurements on reefer ships while frozen cargo goes aboard.
• Harbour quays used by coastal cargo ships and tugs — targeted gauging after a survey finding or ahead of a docking.

Fishing-vessel rules, port state control and offshore logistics

Egersund's fishing fleet is largely Norwegian-flagged, and its vessels are surveyed under the Norwegian Maritime Authority's regulations for fishing vessels, with many of the larger ones also held in class. Thickness gauging on these ships is usually driven by class renewal surveys, by an owner preparing a vessel for sale or by the owner's own maintenance planning, rather than by the ESP rules that govern tankers and bulk carriers. Foreign-flagged reefers, cargo ships and heavy-lift vessels calling here fall under Paris MoU port state control, which the Norwegian Maritime Authority carries out, and an inspection finding on a wasted hatch coaming or air pipe can lead to a request for readings before departure.

Pelagic vessels wear in ways that cargo ships do not. RSW systems circulate chilled seawater through tanks and piping at high flow, and the mix of low temperature, oxygenated water, fish residues and repeated washing breaks down coatings and then the steel beneath. Pump sumps, suction wells, tank bottoms and the lower strakes of tank bulkheads are typical places for pitting. On deck, winch foundations, net-drum supports and gallows carry heavy cyclic loads that can crack welds long before wastage becomes a concern, so magnetic particle testing often goes with the gauging. For barges carrying modules from the yard, attention falls on the deck structure under the grillage and around the sea-fastening points.

Ships trading to Egersund 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 Egersund

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

Stavanger Airport, Sola, is the nearest international gateway; from there the team continues south by road or on the Jæren line commuter train, which ends at Egersund. Access to the fish-factory quays is arranged with the vessel owner and the plant, and the fabrication yard requires its own site induction and work permits, organised through the yard or the barge operator. Norway is a Schengen state, so each technician travels from India on a Schengen visa; season and load-out dates are usually known early, which leaves time for the application.

• 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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