Ship Thickness Measurement at Port Said and the Northern Suez Canal

Inspection services for ships at Port Said

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

Gauging locations at Port Said

There are four practical places to work. The anchorage off Port Said is where transit ships and ships waiting for orders lie; the agent books the launch, and boarding is timed so the gauging finishes well before the convoy call. East Port Said's container terminal offers alongside access to ships working transhipment cargo, subject to the terminal's ISPS controls and the stevedores' working zones. The berths of the west-bank harbour handle general cargo, bulk and service vessels, and Port Said Shipyard handles repair work, including drydocking.

Because time is short, preparation matters more for hull gauging at Port Said than at most ports. We ask for the last thickness measurement report, any class findings or port state control deficiencies, drawings of the area of concern and the expected time at anchor before the team travels, and the measurement points are laid out in advance so the team can board, measure and leave within the window. Where the readings point to a repair, the same data supports the decision on whether to repair at Port Said Shipyard, defer to the next planned yard, or agree a temporary measure with class.

• Port Said anchorage — southbound transit ships and ships waiting for orders; targeted deck, tank and piping gauging timed around the convoy schedule.
• East Port Said container terminal — transhipment calls inside the Suez Canal Economic Zone; scrubber piping, hatch coaming and accessible tank gauging alongside.
• Port Said Shipyard — Suez Canal Authority repair yard; drydock and repair-berth stays allow repair-boundary gauging and wider renewal-survey work.
• West-bank harbour berths — general cargo, bulk and service vessel berths in the city; deck, hold and tank gauging during cargo work or lay-by.
• Damietta, west along the coast — a separate Egyptian Mediterranean port where the same mobilisation can attend bulk carriers and container ships.

Egyptian port state control, the Mediterranean ECA and canal traffic

Egypt belongs to the Mediterranean MoU, and the Egyptian Authority for Maritime Safety inspects foreign ships in its ports. For a ship calling at Port Said rather than only transiting, an inspection can raise structural items, and measured thicknesses are what let class and the owner agree whether a repair is needed before sailing. The Suez Canal Authority applies its own rules of navigation and transit requirements, separate from port state control, and the ship's agent is the route for anything that touches them.

With the Mediterranean SOx ECA in force from 1 May 2025, Port Said is the point by which northbound ships must already be burning 0.10% sulphur fuel or running an equivalent scrubber arrangement. Scrubber-fitted ships that switch modes on entering the Mediterranean put their wash-water and overboard piping through hard service, with erosion and corrosion concentrating at bends, valves and shell penetrations. Gauging those lines during a call, and comparing readings over successive calls, gives the superintendent warning before a leak becomes a detention item. Container lines, tanker operators and bulk owners all route through here, so the same scrubber concern appears across ship types.

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

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

Most journeys to Port Said start at Cairo International Airport, followed by a road transfer along the line of the canal. At the anchorage the ship's agent arranges the launch and sets the boarding time against the convoy schedule, while access to East Port Said, the harbour berths and the shipyard requires gate passes requested through the agent with passport details in advance. Egyptian visas for the team are obtained before travel from India, so the earlier the expected arrival window is known, the easier it is to place technicians at Port Said when the ship is actually there.

• 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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