Ship Thickness Measurement in Paldiski, West of Tallinn

Inspection services for ships at Paldiski

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

Gauging at the South Harbour, North Harbour and car terminals

On ro-ro and vehicle carriers the work happens while the cargo flows. Once a deck has been discharged and before it loads again, the team can measure deck plating, internal ramps and their hinges, the supports of hoistable decks where they can be reached, and the ballast and void spaces below. Vehicle carriers have many light decks, so the readings concentrate on the main and freeboard decks, the stern ramp and its foundations, and the lower decks, where condensation and road salt dripping from vehicles in winter drive corrosion. The ro-pax on the Kapellskär service is measured on lay-overs agreed with the operator, a section at a time.

Bulk carriers and general cargo ships at the South Harbour are gauged hold by hold during cargo operations, and tankers at the liquid berths under the terminal's and the ship's permit systems, with cargo tanks left for a gas-free period. We do not plan dockings at Paldiski, but Tallinn Shipyard at Kopli lies along the coast to the east, so a ship gauged at Paldiski can be docked in Tallinn with the same team following her there. Ships anchored off Paldiski before berthing can be reached by launch through the agent when the weather allows.

• Paldiski South Harbour ro-ro berths — ro-ro and con-ro ships on North Sea and Baltic routes; deck, ramp and tank gauging between discharge and loading
• South Harbour car terminals — vehicle carriers delivering new cars; main deck, stern ramp and lower-deck corrosion measurements during the call
• Ro-pax berth for the Kapellskär service — vehicle deck, void and ramp structure gauging on lay-overs
• South Harbour bulk and liquid berths — bulk carriers and tankers; hold gauging and deck and piping measurements during cargo operations
• Paldiski North Harbour — privately run cargo berths; gauging alongside during the ship's working stay
• Tallinn Shipyard, Kopli — in-dock follow-up when a ship gauged at Paldiski goes to Tallinn for docking

Estonian inspection, Baltic trade and defence cargo

Port state control at Paldiski is carried out by the Estonian Transport Administration under the Paris MoU. On ro-ro and ro-pax ships, inspectors look closely at shell doors, ramps and watertight integrity, and a ship whose stern ramp hinges or deck structure show wastage or cracking is likely to draw a deficiency. Many of the ro-ro services calling at Paldiski run entirely between EU ports, so their voyages fall wholly under the EU ETS and FuelEU Maritime, and operators on those routes tend to plan steel work for the docking rather than lose sailings to unplanned repairs, which puts a premium on accurate gauging beforehand.

Paldiski has also become part of the logistics of the Baltic's eastern flank: the new South Harbour quay was co-financed through the EU's military mobility programme, and ro-ro ships carrying military vehicles and equipment call here. Charters for that kind of cargo can be fixed at short notice, and charterers often want recent evidence of a ship's condition, which can bring on-hire gauging with little warning. In winter, the Estonian ice-class restrictions for Paldiski are usually less demanding than those further east, but ro-ro ships on Gulf of Finland routes mostly hold Finnish-Swedish ice classes and carry the ice-belt wear that goes with them.

Ships trading to Paldiski 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 Paldiski

A gauging job at Paldiski runs the same way whatever the ship type. The sequence below is what the superintendent, the attending surveyor and the yard can expect from us.

The team flies into Tallinn Airport and continues by road west along the coast to Paldiski. Estonia is part of the Schengen area, so our technicians travel from India on Schengen visas, applied for as soon as the ship's call date is known. ISPS access to the South Harbour is arranged by the ship's agent with the Port of Tallinn, and access to the North Harbour with its operator. Where the ship is going on to dock at Kopli, the agent and the shipyard arrange the yard pass for the follow-on visit.

• 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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