Thickness Gauging for Coasters and River-Sea Ships at the Port of Goole

Inspection services for ships at Goole

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

Gauging a coaster at Goole

Most work at Goole is alongside in the docks, fitted between cargo operations. A coaster at the steel terminal or the scrap terminal can have its hold plating, frames and tank top gauged once the hold is clear, and its hatch covers and coamings measured from the deck while cargo work continues elsewhere. Ballast tanks and double-bottom spaces on these ships have small manholes and tight internal spaces, and the crew is small, so the scope depends on how many tanks the crew can open and ventilate before arrival. We ask the superintendent to prepare tanks in advance so that time alongside goes on readings.

For docking, the port has two dry docks within the dock estate, used by smaller craft such as barges, workboats and small coasters, and the work is booked through the port and its repairers. Larger coasters trading to Goole usually dock at yards across the North Sea or elsewhere on the British coast, so a survey alongside in Goole before the docking gives the owner and the yard a steel list to plan around. Ships waiting for a cargo or for the tide can also have a fuller programme worked over a longer stay.

• Steel terminal under the overhead gantry cranes: holds and tank tops gauged between steel discharge and the next loading.
• Scrap terminal: hold plating, frames and hopper plating checked for wastage and damage from scrap cargoes.
• Cement berth: deck and hatch-cover gauging on cement-trading coasters.
• General cargo quays in the dock system: ships waiting for cargo or the tide, with ballast tanks opened over a longer stay.
• No. 1 and No. 2 Dry Docks: docking surveys on smaller craft when a dock is available.

Port state control and the economics of small ships

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency inspects foreign ships at Goole under the Paris MoU, the same as at the estuary ports, even though the port is far inland. General cargo ships are a ship type that features heavily in Paris MoU detentions, and older coasters with corroded hatch covers, wasted air pipes or leaking deck structure are typical candidates. A ship that trades into Goole regularly is likely to be inspected sooner or later, and an owner who already knows where the ship's steel is thin can repair it before an inspector asks.

Most coasters calling at Goole are well below 5,000 gross tonnage, which keeps them outside the EU Emissions Trading System and FuelEU Maritime even on voyages to and from EU ports. For these ships the drivers for gauging are class surveys, charterers and the second-hand market. Many are well into their second or third decade, so renewal surveys bring substantial gauging and often steel renewal, and ships change hands frequently between small European owners, which makes pre-purchase condition gauging a common request.

Ships trading to Goole 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 Goole

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

The nearest airports for Goole are Leeds Bradford and Manchester, with Humberside Airport offering a smaller network; the team continues by rail, and Goole has a railway station on lines towards Doncaster, Leeds and Hull. Technicians travel from India on UK visit visas, applied for well ahead. Because a ship's arrival depends on the tide up the Ouse, the ship's agent keeps us updated on the expected lock time, and arranges port passes through ABP's ISPS controls.

• 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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