Hold and Hull Thickness Measurement for Bulk Ships at the Port of Ipswich

Inspection services for ships at Ipswich

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

Where gauging fits in at Ipswich

There is no ship-repair dry dock at Ipswich, so the work is done afloat at the river berths. Grain berths give the best chance for hold gauging, because the holds arrive empty and are cleaned and passed before loading begins; the team can work in each hold between the ship's arrival and the first grain going in, or in holds that the loading plan leaves until last. Aggregate and feed berths offer the reverse sequence, with holds becoming free as discharge progresses, and tank tops there are sometimes scored by grab work, which is worth recording when the readings are taken.

Ballast tanks and double-bottom tanks are more awkward on a loading call, because the ship deballasts as she loads and the chief officer needs the tanks in use. They are better gauged on a discharge call or during a wait for cargo, when one tank at a time can be emptied, ventilated and entered under the ship's permit system. Deck structure, hatch covers and coamings can be worked on almost any call. For docking, ships on these trades go to yards elsewhere in Britain or across the North Sea, and an Ipswich call a few weeks earlier is a good time to collect the steel quantities for the specification.

• Grain export berths: hold frame, bracket, bulkhead and hold plating gauging after hold cleaning and before loading.
• Aggregate discharge berths: tank-top thickness and grab damage records as each hold empties.
• Dry bulk berths for feed and other cargoes: hatch cover, coaming and deck gauging while cargo is worked.
• River berths during waits for cargo: ballast and double-bottom tank gauging under the ship's enclosed-space permit.
• Larger bulk carriers loading grain for longer voyages: full hold surveys alongside the shipper's cargo-readiness checks.

Grain trade standards, port state control and European climate rules

Ships loading grain at Ipswich must meet the International Grain Code for stability, and charter parties normally require holds that are clean, dry, free of odour and free of loose rust scale before loading starts. Surveyors acting for the shippers inspect the holds and can reject them. Heavy scale on frames and brackets is a common reason for a failed hold inspection, and the same scale often hides wastage that a class surveyor would want gauged. Readings taken while the holds are open and clean answer both questions at once and save the owner a second look later.

Port state control at Ipswich is carried out by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency; the UK left the EU but stayed in the Paris MoU, which it now applies under domestic regulations. Older short-sea bulk carriers draw inspectors' attention to hatch covers, air pipes and ventilators because they decide weathertightness, and recent readings on those items are useful evidence when questions are asked. Grain voyages to EU ports also bring the larger ships into European climate rules: ships of 5,000 gross tonnage and above fall under the EU Emissions Trading System and FuelEU Maritime for those voyages, while many smaller coasters sit below that threshold.

Ships trading to Ipswich 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 Ipswich

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

Teams usually fly into London Stansted, the closest of the London airports, or Heathrow, and reach Ipswich by rail or road; the town is on the main line from London Liverpool Street. The technicians come from India and need UK visas, so we start the application as soon as a call looks likely and follow the ship's movements from then on. The port gates are controlled by ABP, and the ship's agent arranges passes against each technician's passport and sets boarding times, which at Ipswich depend on the tide and the loading plan.

• 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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