Ship Thickness Gauging at Port-la-Nouvelle, Occitanie

Inspection services for ships at Port-la-Nouvelle

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

Where ships can be gauged at Port-la-Nouvelle

Nearly all gauging happens alongside. Bulk quays take grain and fertiliser ships, and the agent arranges gate passes so that technicians reach the berth. Hold frames and tank tops are accessible between discharge and loading, with ballast tanks and void spaces readable whenever the ship releases them. The liquid bulk berths follow terminal safety rules, so work in tanks goes ahead only with the ship's enclosed-space permit and the terminal's agreement.

The new wind platform is a large quayside area designed for assembly and loading, and support vessels may lie there for weeks between tasks, which makes it a useful place for planned gauging. The port's repair capacity is modest, with small slipways and quayside repair for fishing craft and workboats. A merchant ship due a dry docking normally heads for Marseille, La Ciotat or Barcelona, and Port-la-Nouvelle then becomes the pre-docking call where gauging helps scope steel renewal.

• Commercial bulk quays, for hold frame, hopper tank and hatch coaming gauging on grain and fertiliser ships.
• Liquid bulk berths, for ballast tank and deck gauging on small tankers within terminal permit rules.
• Offshore wind platform quays, for hull, deck and ballast steel on tugs and support vessels during stand-by.
• Fishing harbour berths, for trawler hull and tank gauging during lay-up.
• Slipway and small repair quay, for workboats and fishing craft only.
• Roads outside the breakwater, for launch-served work in calm weather.

Port state control and the wind-port context

Ships calling at Port-la-Nouvelle fall under the Paris MoU, with inspections carried out by French ship safety centres. A small bulk carrier of mixed age, a tanker or a coaster all fit the targeting profile, and a recent gauging report on the hull and hold steel is useful evidence for the master if an inspector comes on board.

The Mediterranean is a SOx emission control area, so ships burning high-sulphur fuel and fitted with scrubbers work to the ECA standard on every voyage, which puts wash-water and overboard piping under closer watch. The EU Ship Recycling Regulation, EU ETS and FuelEU Maritime apply to calls here as at other EU ports. The offshore wind terminal brings a different pressure: contractors and vessel owners working on floating wind projects often ask for a documented steel condition before a charter, and gauging fits that need. The vessels themselves are often offshore support and installation ships with ballast systems and heavy deck equipment, which are checked for wastage alongside the main hull.

Since 1 May 2025 the whole Mediterranean has been a sulphur emission control area, so ships calling at Port-la-Nouvelle 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 Port-la-Nouvelle

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

The nearest international airports are Perpignan-Rivesaltes and Béziers-Cap d'Agde, with Montpellier and Toulouse as larger alternatives. Port-la-Nouvelle is reached by road, and the ship's agent arranges gate passes and any launch for ships waiting outside. France is in the Schengen area, so every technician needs a Schengen visa from India before travelling. We ask for the expected berth as early as possible, because visa timing and the sea state decide the earliest start. The port is small, so hotel and transfer arrangements are made early.

• 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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