Hull Gauging and Thickness Measurement for Tankers in Fujairah

Inspection services for ships at Fujairah

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

Where thickness measurement at Fujairah anchorage and berths takes place

Most of the work is done at anchorage. A port launch arranged by the agent carries the team, its portable ultrasonic gauges and confined-space kit out to the ship, where the crew has the tanks ready: ventilated, gas-tested, lit and with safe access to the structure to be measured. We schedule tank entry around bunkering, because bunker operations tie up the deck crew and restrict access around the manifold, and we agree a daily plan with the master so that cargo or ballast operations do not overlap gauging.

Alongside work happens at the port's general cargo and bulk berths, and occasionally at the oil terminals when a ship is idle between operations and the terminal permits it. On bulk carriers loading aggregates, holds are best gauged on arrival, empty and dry, before loading starts. Bunker barges and small tankers serving the anchorage are gauged at their lay-by berths between supply runs. For larger scopes, tanker thickness gauging in Fujairah is often carried out as pre-docking work, with the readings sent ahead to the yard that will do the steel renewal so that plate can be ordered before the ship arrives.

• Fujairah anchorage — CAP and pre-purchase gauging on crude and product tankers waiting for bunkers, orders or berths, reached by launch through the agent
• Floating storage tankers — gauging floating storage tankers during extended stays, concentrating on deck, ballast tanks and cargo-tank deckheads exposed to heat and inert gas
• Oil terminal berths in the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone — limited piping and deck gauging when a ship is idle alongside and the terminal issues a permit
• Bulk and general cargo berths — hold, tank-top and hatch-coaming gauging on bulk carriers loading aggregates, and deck checks on general cargo ships
• Bunker barge lay-by berths — renewal and condition gauging of bunker barges and small coastal tankers that work the anchorage every day

Bunkering, scrubbers and port state control at Fujairah

Fujairah is part of the UAE's port state control system under the Riyadh MoU, and ships calling only for bunkers are as liable to inspection as those working cargo. The fuel market itself shapes inspection demand. Since 1 January 2020, when the global 0.50% sulphur cap of MARPOL Annex VI regulation 14 took effect, scrubber-fitted ships have continued to burn high-sulphur fuel oil, and Fujairah is one of the hubs where they lift it. Scrubber wash-water piping, overboard discharge lines and the shell area around the outlets are prone to rapid corrosion and erosion, so scrubber piping inspection at Fujairah fits naturally into a bunker call or a wait at anchor.

The heat matters as much as the fuel. Crude and product tankers trading in and out of the Gulf face sun-heated decks and warm seas for much of the year. Cargo-tank deckheads under hot decks see repeated condensation and attack from the sulphur compounds in inert gas and crude vapour, and ballast tanks filled with warm, saline Gulf water lose their coatings faster. Older tankers in these trades are the ones charterers and oil-major vetting ask to see a CAP rating for, typically from about 15 years, so gauging for CAP is a recurring Fujairah request alongside pre-purchase sampling.

Wherever a ship is outside a sulphur emission control area, the global 0.50% sulphur cap applies, and many of the ships calling at Fujairah 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 Fujairah

A gauging job at Fujairah runs the same way whatever the ship type. The sequence below is what the superintendent, the attending surveyor and the yard can expect from us.

There are two practical routes in. Fujairah International Airport (FJR) is close to the port but has fewer scheduled services, so teams usually fly into Dubai International (DXB) or Sharjah International (SHJ), both with frequent direct flights from India, and travel by road across the Hajar mountains to the east coast. Anchorage boarding uses a launch the agent books, together with any port entry permits; alongside work needs an ISPS gate pass in the usual way. UAE visas are processed before the team flies, and we follow the ship's ETA closely because anchorage waits can shorten without warning.

• 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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