Hull Thickness Measurement for Ro-Ro, Car Carriers and Ferries in Malmö

Inspection services for ships at Malmö

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

Where gauging happens in Malmö and along the south coast

In Malmö, the car terminal and the ro-ro berths are the main working locations. Car carriers and ro-ro ships offer open decks and ramps, and measurement can run alongside cargo operations if the vessel and terminal agree a safe working area. The ferry berth for the Travemünde service gives shorter windows, usually for piping and specific deck areas. Tankers discharging oil products at the harbour allow limited ballast and deck work, with cargo tanks left closed. Car carriers sometimes have their hoistable decks raised for loading, which limits access, so we agree the deck sequence with the chief officer.

Trelleborg and Ystad are within easy reach by road, and the same team can cover ships at all three ports during one visit. Larger ships from the region generally dock elsewhere, often in Poland, Germany, Denmark or Lithuania, and for those dockings we mobilise directly to the yard. Pre-docking measurements in Malmö or Trelleborg are a practical way to define the yard specification for ro-ro and ferry operators who cannot spare their ships for longer in port, because the scope reaching the yard is then based on readings rather than estimates carried forward from the last survey.

• Malmö car terminal — fixed and hoistable car-deck gauging, ramp measurements and ramp-hinge crack detection on car carriers during calls and lay-bys.
• Malmö ro-pax berth — vehicle-deck and machinery piping measurements on Travemünde ferries in their scheduled port time.
• Malmö oil harbour — ballast tank and deck gauging on product tankers during discharge, with cargo tanks closed.
• Trelleborg ferry and ro-ro berths — Trelleborg ferry inspection work on vehicle decks, ramps and bow and stern doors during turnarounds or lay-bys.
• Ystad ferry berths — piping and deck gauging on ro-pax ships serving Poland and Bornholm, planned around the timetable.
• Anchorages in the Sound — limited condition gauging on ships waiting in the Øresund, with launches arranged through the agent.

Baltic ECA, ice class and regulation in the Øresund region

Sweden is an EU member and part of the Paris MoU. The Øresund lies within the Baltic Sea SOx ECA at 0.10% sulphur, and ferries and ro-ro ships here mostly burn compliant fuel or LNG, while scrubber-fitted car carriers and ro-ro ships need wash-water and overboard piping checked at each docking. Shipping falls under the EU ETS from 2024 and FuelEU Maritime from 2025, and operators across the Baltic ferry market have responded with battery hybrids, LNG and shore power, retrofits that add structural penetrations and foundations worth measuring before and after installation.

Ro-ro ships, car carriers and ferries have their own structural weak points. Vehicle decks are wetted by seawater, melt water and de-icing salt brought aboard on vehicles in winter, which concentrates corrosion at deck plating, stiffener connections and drainage gutters. Ramps, bow and stern doors and their hinges take repeated loading and are classic fatigue locations. Car carriers' hoistable decks are lightly built and wear at their supports and lifting points. These are the areas where vehicle deck gauging and crack detection are focused, alongside the ballast tanks and shell structure covered by the hull survey.

Ships trading to Malmö 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 Malmö

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

Copenhagen Airport is the most practical international gateway, connected to Malmö by train across the Øresund Bridge; Malmö Airport at Sturup mainly handles domestic flights. Trelleborg and Ystad are reached by road or rail from Malmö. All harbour areas are ISPS-controlled, and the ship's agent arranges gate passes and, for anchorage work, launches. Sweden and Denmark are both in the Schengen area, so the team travels from India on Schengen visas and work on both sides of the Sound can be combined in one trip.

• 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.

Related