Marín (Pontevedra) Ship Thickness Gauging for Bulk, Timber and Fishing Vessels

Inspection services for ships at Marín

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

Where gauging happens at Marín

Marín has no large commercial drydock, so heavy work normally goes to Vigo, a short passage away by sea, where floating docks and repair quays take merchant and fishing ships. At Marín itself, ships are gauged alongside at the main commercial berths, at the timber and steel quays, in the fishing harbour or at the anchorage in the ría. Holds are available once cargo is cleared, ballast tanks whenever the chief officer can release them and the enclosed-space permit is in place, and the shell at the waterline wherever staging or a work boat gives safe access.

The local craft and boat-building yards handle small repairs, and fishing vessels hauled there for maintenance can be gauged out of the water at the slipway when the owner agrees. For merchant ships, the usual pattern is to measure at Marín, fix the steel list and send it to the yard that will do the work. Where a ship waits at anchor for a berth, a launch from the agent allows readings in empty holds and ballast tanks, and the sheltered ría makes boarding more reliable than on open-coast anchorages.

• Commercial berths — hold frame, tank top and hatch coaming gauging on bulk and general cargo ships
• Timber and steel quays — deck, coaming and ballast tank readings on log carriers and steel cargo vessels
• Fishing harbour quays — hull and tank gauging on trawlers and coastal fishing boats
• Boat-yard slipways — shell and bottom readings on fishing vessels and tugs hauled for maintenance
• Ría anchorage — launch-served gauging of empty holds and ballast tanks on ships waiting for a berth
• Pre-docking steel lists for onward yards at Vigo or elsewhere on the Galician coast

Oversight and obligations around the ría

Port state control at Marín falls under the Paris MoU, carried out by the Spanish maritime administration, the Dirección General de la Marina Mercante, through the local Capitanía Marítima. The port sees fewer foreign-flag deep-sea calls than its neighbour Vigo, but bulk and general cargo ships of varied age come for timber and steel, and some are chosen for inspection. A superintendent who has had the holds and ballast tanks measured before arrival can address any thinning before an inspector finds it, which keeps the loading programme on schedule.

EU rules add their own drivers. European recycling rules want a current Inventory of Hazardous Materials aboard ships entering EU ports, the carbon market has covered shipping since 2024 and FuelEU Maritime has applied since 2025, and all of this push owners to know their fleet's condition when deciding on retrofit, sale or retirement. For timber carriers, cargo securing and deck loading add safety obligations that make sound hatch covers and coamings important, and gauging those items before a loading is a practical way to reduce the risk of a claim.

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

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

Technicians usually reach Marín through Vigo-Peinador or Santiago de Compostela airport, with road transfers around the ría, connecting through Madrid or Lisbon on the way from India. The ship's agent arranges port passes and launch boats for the anchorage. Spain belongs to the Schengen area, so each technician needs a visa obtained in India, applied for once the stay is confirmed and supported by an invitation naming the vessel. Cargo plans change often, so travel is booked as late as the visa process allows.

• 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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