Ship Thickness Gauging in Lorient and the Rade

Inspection services for ships at Lorient

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

Where ships can be gauged at Lorient

At Keroman the fishing quays give access to vessels between trips. A trawler lies alongside for a day or two while it lands its catch, takes ice and fuel and changes crew, and during that time the hull above the waterline, deck plating, fish holds, fuel and ballast tanks and accessible piping can be measured. Fish holds need to be cleaned and ventilated, and the crew prepare them in advance. Fishing vessels are frequently older steel hulls with a long record of repair, so the readings help the owner choose between further repair and replacement.

At Kergroise a coaster or small tanker is gauged at the commercial quay, with holds, hatch covers and tanks measured when empty. The repair yards of the rade offer a different kind of access: ships in for repair afloat or on a yard's facilities are open to the superintendent, and early readings let the repair list be drawn up before the steel work starts. Ships at anchor in the rade are reached by launch, and the shelter of the roadstead keeps that practical in most conditions. The naval shipyard is a restricted area, and gauging there is outside what we do.

• Keroman fishing quays — hull, fish hold, fuel tank and piping gauging on trawlers and deep-sea fishing vessels between trips.
• Kergroise commercial quays — hold, coaming, hatch cover and ballast tank gauging on short-sea cargo ships and small tankers.
• Repair yard berths on the rade — early steel assessment on fishing vessels, tugs and coastal ships in for repair.
• Rade de Lorient anchorage — launch-served readings on ships waiting for a berth or a yard slot.
• Groix ferry berth — deck, ramp and tank checks on small ro-pax craft during layovers.
• Offshore energy support quays — hull and deck gauging on service and supply vessels between operations.

Regulation and the fishing industry

Port state control in France follows the Paris MoU, and the Centres de sécurité des navires of the French maritime administration also oversee the safety of French-flag fishing vessels and coastal ships. Visible wastage on a fishing vessel's hull or a tank leak is the kind of finding that can hold a boat in port, so owners often have the steel measured before their annual safety inspection. For foreign-flag cargo ships at Kergroise, the same risk-based targeting applies as in any other Paris MoU port.

Fishing vessels follow national safety rules rather than the classification regime used by large merchant ships, though many are classed voluntarily, and thickness readings support both. Short-sea cargo ships and small tankers follow their class society's survey rules, with the Enhanced Survey Programme applying to tankers and bulk carriers. EU ETS and FuelEU Maritime affect larger ships on EU voyages, and the EU Ship Recycling Regulation's Inventory of Hazardous Materials applies to ships over 500 gross tonnage calling at EU ports. For owners deciding on renewal or replacement of an older hull, measured steel is the basis of the decision.

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

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

The regional airport at Lorient offers connections to Paris, and from India the usual route is an international flight to Paris Charles de Gaulle followed by a domestic flight or a TGV train to Lorient. The ship's agent or the owner arranges access to Keroman, Kergroise or the repair yards, and books a launch for ships in the rade. The naval areas are closed to civilians. France is in the Schengen area, so each technician needs a Schengen visa, which we apply for once the stay is confirmed, with an invitation letter from the owner naming the ship.

• 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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