Ploče Port: Ultrasonic Thickness Measurement for Bulk and Cargo Ships

Inspection services for ships at Ploče

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

Where gauging happens at Ploče

Most gauging at Ploče takes place alongside. A bulk carrier that has finished discharge offers open holds, hopper tank tops, hatch covers and coamings, and with the cargo gone the surfaces can be cleaned enough for readings. The ship's crew or the terminal's cleaning gang usually prepares the hold, and the technicians work in the gap between discharge and the next loading. For hold frames and side shell structure, staging or lifting equipment is arranged with the ship's staff, and enclosed-space entry procedures apply throughout.

Ploče is not a repair port, and we do not assume docking capacity. Ships needing a docking survey normally sail to a yard elsewhere in Croatia, Italy, Montenegro or further afield. Gauging at Ploče is therefore valuable as a pre-docking step: measured thicknesses help the owner and the yard prepare a steel estimate, and the surveyor can focus the close-up survey on areas where corrosion is most likely. Ships waiting at anchor off the port can be reached by launch through the agent, which suits pre-purchase and condition checks.

• Dry bulk berths — holds, hopper tanks, tank tops, hatch covers and coamings on bulk carriers once discharge is complete
• General cargo quays — hold structure, hatch covers and deck plating on break-bulk and timber ships
• Liquid cargo terminal — main deck, deck piping and accessible ballast tanks on product tankers during discharge
• Container berths — hatch covers and ballast tanks on feeder ships during cargo work
• Ploče anchorage — launch access for pre-purchase, on-hire and pre-docking gauging on waiting ships
• Pre-docking visits — measured steel estimates before the ship sails to a yard for survey and repair

Regulation, bulk carrier survey rules and the Bosnian trade

Foreign ships at Ploče are subject to Paris MoU port state control, carried out by Croatian officers under the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure and the harbour master's authority for the Ploče area. Bulk carriers are a recurring target for structural inspections because of the damage hold frames, hopper tank boundaries and hatch covers suffer from grabs and cargo. Ageing handysize ships trading in the Adriatic are the kind of tonnage where measured values matter, because a ship with substantial corrosion in a hold can be required to carry out steel renewal before she is allowed to continue.

Bulk carriers fall under the enhanced survey programme, with thickness measurement at special and intermediate surveys and increasing coverage as the ship ages. Owners trading to Ploče often gauge selected holds and hatch covers between surveys to manage the risk of findings. EU rules add further layers: larger ships need an Inventory of Hazardous Materials, and EU ETS and FuelEU Maritime apply above the size thresholds. The cargo mix, dominated by coal, ores and aggregates in many cases, tends to be abrasive, so wastage in the lower hold areas and tank tops is often the key finding for older ships.

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

Most of the work on a Ploče job happens before the team boards: scope, plan and access are settled first, so the time on board goes on measurement.

Dubrovnik Airport is the nearest international airport, with Split further north and Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina also within road distance. The agent arranges port access and terminal passes, and books launches for ships at anchor. Technicians travelling from India need a Schengen visa for Croatia, and the visa timing governs the earliest start. Bulk berth schedules change with cargo flow, so we keep dates flexible and confirm the working window with the terminal once the ship is alongside.

• 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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