Ultrasonic Gauging for Ships and Fishing Vessels at Pasaia

Inspection services for ships at Pasaia

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

Where gauging is realistic in and around Pasaia

The practical locations are the cargo quays and lay-by berths inside the bay. Steel and general cargo ships at the commercial quays are gauged once holds are clear, with deck, coaming and hold frame readings taken between discharge and loading. Vessels from the fishing and offshore sectors are gauged at the repair quays and fish-dock berths when crews are ashore and tanks can be emptied. Vehicle carriers use their own quay, where ramp and deck structure can be measured while no vehicles are on board.

Drydock facilities in Pasaia are modest and suited to small craft, and several yards along the Basque coast, including those in the Bilbao area, handle larger vessels. An owner commonly gauges in Pasaia, sends the steel list to the chosen yard and has technicians attend the dock for post-blast readings. Anchorage work in the bay is limited by space, and the open roads outside are exposed in winter, so alongside gauging is the normal arrangement and is planned around the pilot's schedule for entering and leaving.

• Commercial cargo quays: hold frame, coaming and deck gauging on steel carriers and general cargo ships between cargo operations
• Vehicle and ro-ro quay: ramp, deck plating and side shell readings on car carriers
• Fishing harbour berths: hull, tank and deck plating readings on fishing vessels during short stops ashore
• Repair quays and slipways: workboats, tugs, wind-farm and offshore support vessels hauled or lying for repair
• Lay-by berths inside the bay: coasters waiting for cargo, a survey or a yard slot
• Basque and Cantabrian yards: docking-stage gauging after the steel list is prepared from Pasaia readings

Basque coast regulation and the small-ship picture

Ships calling at Pasaia are inspected under the Paris MoU system, with Spanish inspectors drawn from the Capitanía Marítima operating under the Dirección General de la Marina Mercante. Coasters and general cargo ships on regional trades have a high profile in port state control statistics across Europe, and inspectors look closely at structure, load line items and the condition of steel that holds the ship together. Fishing vessels fall under separate regimes, but owners increasingly commission thickness readings for insurance, sale and repair planning in the same way as merchant owners.

EU rules reach small ships as well. The Ship Recycling Regulation's Inventory of Hazardous Materials applies to vessels calling at EU ports, which prompts some owners of older coasters to review structure and materials together before a sale or a decision to scrap. Offshore wind and energy activity around the Bay of Biscay has also increased demand for service craft, and owners converting or chartering such vessels often ask for hull condition evidence first. Gauging provides measured thickness at the plates that matter, rather than an assumption drawn from age.

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

A gauging job at Pasaia 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.

Technicians usually fly from India to Bilbao through a European hub and continue by road along the coast, while San Sebastián's small airport and Biarritz across the French border are alternatives depending on connections. The ship's agent arranges pilotage and quay access. Visits to Spain need a Schengen visa, so the team plans around visa issue and the call dates, and keeps a margin because tide and swell can move the berthing time of ships entering through the narrow channel.

• 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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