Ultrasonic Thickness Gauging for Ships Calling at Kotor

Inspection services for ships at Kotor

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

Where gauging is practical at Kotor

The main working place is the cruise quay below the old town. Ships alongside can be gauged on the call day once the ship's safety officer and the chief engineer have agreed the spaces, with scrubber discharge lines and pump rooms a regular target. The quay is shared, so the berth allocation and the passenger programme set the time available, and the ship's agent confirms both before the team travels. Work in engine spaces is done under the ship's permit system, and results are reported against the spaces actually accessed.

At the inner-bay anchorage, a launch carries the team to the ship. This route suits smaller passenger vessels, yachts and expedition ships that stay several days, as well as ships between charters. There is no commercial drydock at Kotor itself. For ships needing steel renewal, the Bay's own shipyard at Bijela and yards on the Croatian and Italian coasts are the usual alternatives, and a pre-docking gauging record from Kotor helps that yard estimate steel before the ship is out of the water.

• Kotor town quay: scrubber discharge piping, sea water lines and technical spaces on cruise ships during the call day
• Inner-bay anchorage: launch-borne gauging of small passenger ships, expedition vessels and yachts in sheltered water
• Lay-by berths for small passenger craft: tank boundary and deck gauging during lay-up or between charters
• Cargo and supply berth: hatch covers and deck piping on service ships calling for local supply
• Pre-docking gauging for ships bound for Bijela or Adriatic yards: a steel estimate before the ship leaves the bay

Port state control, class rules and the Montenegrin setting

Montenegro is a member of the Paris MoU, so foreign ships calling at Kotor are exposed to the same targeting and inspection regime as at ports in neighbouring Croatia and Italy. Passenger ships get close attention in any regime, and an inspector will look at structural condition, fire safety and the integrity of scrubber and ballast arrangements. A thickness record taken before the call gives the superintendent a view of known weak areas, so that nothing surprising is found by someone else first.

Montenegro is a candidate for EU membership but is not in the EU, and the Montenegrin Maritime Safety Administration is the national authority for ships and ports. Voyages that start or end in an EU port still come under EU ETS and FuelEU Maritime, which affects cruise operators running itineraries between Croatia, Italy, Greece and Kotor. Cruise owners therefore watch hull and machinery condition closely when planning refits, and gauging data is one of the inputs. Visiting technicians also follow Montenegrin entry rules, which differ from the Schengen system.

Since 1 May 2025 the whole Mediterranean has been a sulphur emission control area, so ships calling at Kotor burn 0.10% sulphur fuel or run a scrubber. Scrubber wash-water piping, the overboard discharge and the hull penetration around it corrode quickly in service and are worth adding to the gauging scope at every docking.

How a thickness measurement job runs at Kotor

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

Tivat Airport, on the same bay, is the closest, with seasonal European links, and Dubrovnik Airport in Croatia is reachable by road across the border. Podgorica Airport has year-round connections and a longer road transfer to the coast. The ship's agent arranges quay passes and launches at Kotor. Montenegro sets its own entry rules for visitors, so we check what Indian passport holders need on the date of the enquiry rather than relying on general assumptions.

• 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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