Ultrasonic Thickness Measurement for Ships and Rigs in Las Palmas

Inspection services for ships at Las Palmas

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

Astican, the rig quays and the bunker berths: gauging sites in Las Palmas

Ship-repair work centres on Astican, whose docking facilities handle merchant ships, fishing vessels and offshore units, and on the repair companies that work afloat along the port's quays. In a repair period, gauging is usually the first job: readings in tanks, holds and on external shell set the steel renewal scope, and a second round after cleaning or blasting confirms which areas need cropping and renewal. Reefers and fishing vessels lie alongside the fishing and cold-store quays, where holds, tanks and decks can be gauged between trips.

Rigs and large offshore units lie at lay-by quays in the outer harbour, sometimes for long periods. Work on them needs the operator's permit-to-work system, access to legs, columns, pontoons, preload and ballast tanks, and a measurement plan agreed with class before measuring starts. Rig and offshore work often runs over several weeks, and the number of technicians and the schedule are adjusted as cleaning and access open new areas. For ships at anchor or calling for bunkers, launches are booked through the ship's agent, and the trade winds and Atlantic swell can affect boarding in the outer anchorage, so a margin in the schedule is sensible.

• Astican shipyard — docking and renewal survey gauging of hull, tanks and holds on merchant ships, fishing vessels and offshore support vessels
• Rig lay-by quays in the outer harbour — gauging of legs, columns, pontoons, preload and ballast tanks on jack-ups and semi-submersibles between contracts
• Bunkering berths and anchorage — targeted gauging and pre-purchase sampling on ships stopping for fuel on Atlantic passages
• Fishing and cold-store quays — fish-hold, tank and deck gauging on fishing vessels and reefers between trips
• Container and cruise berths — scrubber and sea-water piping gauging on container ships and winter-season cruise ships during calls
• Afloat repair quays — gauging alongside repair crews so steel renewal and piping replacement can be planned within the same stay

Canary Islands context: flags, fuel rules and the West Africa link

The Canary Islands are part of Spain and of the EU, so Las Palmas applies Spanish port state control under the Paris MoU, EU at-berth sulphur rules, EU ETS for shipping since 2024 and FuelEU Maritime since 2025. No SOx ECA covers the islands' waters, and ships here burn fuel meeting the global sulphur limit at sea or run scrubbers on high-sulphur fuel. Spain's second ship register, the Canary Islands Special Register, takes its name from the islands, and many Spanish-flag merchant ships are entered in it.

Commercially, Las Palmas is tied to West Africa. Offshore drilling and production campaigns in the Gulf of Guinea and off Mauritania and Senegal drive demand for offshore rig inspection and maintenance here, and the periods between contracts are when owners schedule class renewal work on their units. The same link brings ships that have spent long periods in warm, humid trades, where ballast tank coatings and deck structure deteriorate faster, and owners often use a stop in the islands to measure the extent of the damage before deciding where to dock. For a manager whose ship is already in the Atlantic, gauging in Las Palmas can settle that question before the ship heads north to Europe or south again.

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

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

Gran Canaria Airport is the entry point, normally reached from India through Madrid or a similar European connection, with a short road transfer to the port. The Canary Islands are in the Schengen area, so technicians travel on Schengen visas, and we fix travel dates once those visas are issued and the yard period or the rig's work window is confirmed. Yard access is arranged with the shipyard, rig access with the operator, and ISPS passes or launches through the ship's agent. Long rig and repair stays usually allow all of this to be planned well ahead.

• 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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