UTM and Hull Thickness Gauging for Ships in Naples

Inspection services for ships at Naples

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

Where thickness gauging happens around the Bay of Naples

Ship repair in Naples is concentrated in the eastern part of the port, where graving docks and floating docks take ferries, ro-pax ships, cruise ships and large yachts. Several ship-repair companies work in the basin, and docking periods are when full hull, sea chest, double-bottom and stern-area gauging takes place, and when pre-docking readings are turned into a steel renewal plan agreed with the surveyor. Staging, ventilation and gas-free certificates are arranged by the yard, and gauging is sequenced ahead of blasting so that original surfaces are measured.

Afloat gauging happens at the passenger berths. Overnight ro-pax ships lying alongside by day, island ferries laid over between sailings, and cruise ships on turnaround all give access windows measured in hours. Where an island ferry lies over in Naples between its last evening and first morning sailing, night-time gauging can be agreed with the master. Beyond the city, Castellammare di Stabia has Fincantieri's historic shipyard, and Salerno, in the same port system, is a busy ro-ro and container port on Motorways of the Sea routes that can be added to a Naples mobilisation by road.

• Ship-repair basin, eastern port of Naples — drydock gauging of bottom shell, sea chests, ballast tanks and stern structure on ferries, ro-pax ships and cruise ships
• Overnight ferry berths — daytime gauging of vehicle decks, ramps, bow and stern door structure and ballast tanks on ro-pax ships between night sailings
• Molo Beverello and the island ferry berths — aluminium and steel hull gauging on fast craft and island ferries during layovers or off-season lay-up
• Stazione Marittima, Molo Angioino — cruise ship gauging during turnaround, usually scrubber piping, void spaces and areas listed in the last survey report
• Castellammare di Stabia — ships at the port and around Fincantieri's shipyard, within the same port system and a short drive from Naples
• Salerno — ro-ro, ro-pax and container ships on Motorways of the Sea services, often combined with a Naples job in the same mobilisation
• Bay of Naples anchorage — pre-purchase and condition gauging by launch for ships waiting to berth, laid up between charters or changing hands

Passenger-ship rules, emissions and the Naples owner community

As in every Italian port, foreign ships in Naples are picked for Paris MoU port state control inspections. Ro-pax ships and high-speed passenger craft in scheduled service are also subject to the regular EU inspection regime for those ship types, so structural condition on a Naples ferry is looked at more often than on a cargo ship of the same age. With the Mediterranean designated a SOx Emission Control Area from 1 May 2025 under MARPOL Annex VI regulation 14, every ship working in the Gulf of Naples must use 0.10% sulphur fuel unless its scrubber gives an equivalent result. Larger ro-pax ships and cruise ships with scrubbers now operate them throughout the Tyrrhenian, which puts wash-water piping and overboard outlets on the gauging list.

EU ETS has applied to shipping since 2024 and FuelEU Maritime since 2025, both above a size threshold that captures the larger ro-pax ships, car carriers and cruise ships calling at Naples. For owners of older tonnage these rules sharpen the keep-or-replace question, and thickness records from recent dockings feed straight into it. Naples also has a dense maritime services community of shipowners, managers, class surveyors, P&I correspondents and nautical schools, so the people who sign off a docking specification are often only a short walk from the ship.

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

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

Naples International Airport at Capodichino is a short drive from the port, and Rome Fiumicino offers wider long-haul connections with a fast rail link to Naples. Access to the repair basin, the passenger berths and the commercial terminals is by ISPS pass arranged through the ship's agent, who also books a launch for ships at anchor. Our technicians travel from India on Schengen visas. Winter docking slots in Naples are fixed well in advance, which leaves time for visas; summer work alongside needs dates confirmed as early as the operator's timetable 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.

Related