Hold and Hull Gauging for Bulk and Steel Ships at Monfalcone

Inspection services for ships at Monfalcone

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

Quays, the shipyard neighbour and the nearest dock

The commercial quays are the main place for gauging at Monfalcone. Bulk and general cargo ships lie alongside while cargo is discharged or loaded, and the holds are empty for short periods between operations. Hold frames, tank tops, lower hopper plating and hatch coamings can then be measured with the ship's staging or a scissor lift, provided the holds are swept and the terminal agrees to the access. The adjacent shipyard is a newbuilding yard, not a repair yard, so owners do not normally dock merchant ships there.

When a docking or a renewal survey is due, ships typically move to a repair yard elsewhere on the Adriatic, in Croatia, or further afield in the Mediterranean, and the Monfalcone readings go with the ship as a baseline. For a ship waiting for berth, the anchorage in the gulf is open to the bora, so pre-docking work there is weather dependent. In all cases the agent submits the team's details to the port authority and the terminal security staff well before the ship arrives.

• Commercial quays: hold frames, tank tops and lower hopper plating on bulk and steel carriers after discharge.
• Steel and project cargo berths: hatch cover, coaming and deck gauging on ships carrying coils, plate and heavy lifts.
• Forest products and paper berths: hold and hatch cover gauging on ships that need weathertight holds.
• Quay frontage for general cargo ships: ballast tank and deck readings between cargo operations.
• Anchorage in the Gulf of Trieste: launch-served condition gauging when the weather and the agent allow.
• Handover to a repair yard: readings prepared in TM plan format for a docking elsewhere in the Adriatic.

Italian coast guard rules and the Adriatic trade

Ships calling at Monfalcone fall under Italian port state control, carried out by the Coast Guard, and the Paris MoU inspection regime applies. The harbour office responsible for the area controls berthing, cargo and safety matters, and its approval is needed for work involving hot work or tank entry on ships alongside. Steel carriers and older general cargo ships are exactly the type that attracts the attention of port state control, because of hold structure, hatch covers and weathertight integrity.

The trade itself drives the need for gauging. Steel cargoes are heavy, and loading with grabs and cranes damages tank tops and frames. Older mid-sized ships working from this part of the Adriatic are often in their later survey cycles, where owners consider each docking carefully. Gauging in Monfalcone helps the owner decide whether a renewal can wait for the next season. Under the EU Ship Recycling Regulation, owners also keep an eye on the Inventory of Hazardous Materials for ships heading toward the end of their trading life.

Since 1 May 2025 the whole Mediterranean has been a sulphur emission control area, so ships calling at Monfalcone 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 Monfalcone

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

Trieste Airport at Ronchi dei Legionari lies close to Monfalcone, and Venice Marco Polo is the larger alternative with a longer road transfer, so the team can reach the port easily by road. Technicians from India need a Schengen visa for Italy, applied for after the ship's call is confirmed. Port access and terminal security passes are requested through the ship's agent, with the team's passport and certificate details supplied in advance.

• 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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