Ultrasonic Thickness Measurement and Ship Inspection in Jeddah

Inspection services for ships at Jeddah

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

Gauging locations at Jeddah

Most gauging at Jeddah is done afloat, alongside or at anchor. The container terminals allow work on deck and in accessible tanks during cargo operations, within the terminal's ISPS and safety rules; the general cargo, ro-ro and bulk berths give fuller access once cargo is out; and the tanker berths allow deck and ballast work under terminal permits. Each terminal has its own induction and access procedure, which the ship's agent arranges. Heat matters too: tank entry in the Red Sea summer needs ventilation, rest breaks and work planning that a temperate port does not, and the gauging plan is written with that in mind.

The anchorage outside the port holds ships waiting for berths or orders, and boarding there is by launch booked through the agent, subject to harbour clearance. Where a ship is to dock at a yard elsewhere, Jeddah can be the last call before the yard where gauging fits without disrupting the voyage; measuring ballast tanks, holds and decks here gives the yard the figures to plan steel, staging and dock time. For ships in ballast between charters, the port can also be the place for on-hire or off-hire condition gauging, recording a baseline before the next employment begins.

• Container terminals at Jeddah Islamic Port, including Red Sea Gateway Terminal — import and transhipment calls; scrubber lines, hatch coamings and deck plating measured during the call.
• General cargo and ro-ro berths — vehicle and project cargo calls; vehicle deck, ramp and hold plating gauged once the cargo has been discharged.
• Grain and bulk berths — food import cargoes; once discharge is complete, hold structure from tank top to upper frames can be measured.
• Product tanker berths — refined fuel cargoes; measurement of deck plating, ballast tanks and deck lines within the terminal's permit system.
• Jeddah anchorage — ships waiting for berths or orders outside the reefs; launch boarding for ballast tank, deck and hatch cover measurement.

Saudi port state control and the Red Sea operating context

Saudi Arabia inspects foreign ships under the Riyadh MoU, the regional port state control agreement of the Gulf Cooperation Council states, and Jeddah calls fall within it. With no ECA anywhere in the Red Sea, ships here work to the global 0.50% cap, and scrubber-fitted ships burning high-sulphur fuel keep their systems running for the whole passage. That makes scrubber piping inspection in Jeddah practical for ships moving between the Mediterranean ECA and the Indian Ocean, particularly where the same lines run in a more demanding mode north of Port Said.

Attacks on commercial ships near the Bab el-Mandeb, which began in November 2023, prompted many container lines and other operators to reroute via the Cape of Good Hope, changing which services call at Jeddah and how. Owners still trading through the Red Sea follow their own and their underwriters' security guidance; attendance at Jeddah is planned within that guidance, and the port itself lies well north of the strait. With King Abdullah Port and Yanbu to the north and Jazan to the south, a Jeddah mobilisation can be extended to other Saudi Red Sea ports whenever a fleet has ships spread along that coast.

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

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

The team arrives at King Abdulaziz International Airport, north of the city. Each technician needs a Saudi visa before travel from India, and the ship's agent applies for port passes for the people and the gauging equipment through the port's security system, using passport and visa details. For anchorage work, the agent arranges the launch and the boarding clearance. Because visa issue sets the earliest possible mobilisation date, the paperwork begins the moment the ETA, discharge window or docking date is firm, and keep the superintendent updated on progress.

• 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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