Rhodes: Thickness Gauging for Dodecanese Ferries and Island Shipping

Inspection services for ships at Rhodes

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

Where ships can be gauged around Rhodes

In the commercial port, gauging is done alongside at the ferry and cargo quays. A ferry or cargo ship in port for a day offers accessible plating, vehicle decks, ramps, hatch covers and any tanks the crew has prepared. Product tankers delivering fuel are limited to deck, deck piping and ballast spaces and work within the terminal's permit rules. Cruise ships are usually on tight turnarounds, so readings concentrate on accessible deck and void spaces that the hotel operation does not block.

There is no large drydock on Rhodes. Ships needing hull steel work normally go to the Athens repair zones, to a yard in the Aegean or to Turkey, where yards at Marmaris and elsewhere along the coast serve yachts and smaller commercial ships. That means gauging on Rhodes is again a preparation step: measured readings help the technical manager set a steel estimate, compare yard offers and decide whether a repair can wait. For ships laid up in the harbour or at an anchorage during the winter, a longer programme can be planned over several days.

• Commercial port ferry quays — vehicle deck, ramp, weather deck and ballast tank readings on island ferries and fast craft
• Cargo quays — hatch cover, coaming and hold gauging on general cargo ships during discharge
• Fuel berth — deck, deck piping and ballast tank readings on product tankers within terminal rules
• Cruise berths and anchorage off the harbour — deck and void space gauging during turnaround calls
• Winter lay-up berths — extended programmes on ships idle between seasons

Port state control and island regulation

Port state control at Rhodes falls under the Paris MoU and is carried out by the Hellenic Coast Guard, which also oversees passenger ship certification for the island services. Domestic ferries are surveyed regularly, so owners keep close watch on steel wastage in vehicle decks and ballast tanks. The Mediterranean emission control area for sulphur, in force from 1 May 2025, covers the Dodecanese. Shipping has been inside EU ETS since 2024 and FuelEU Maritime since 2025, and both apply to island voyages as well as longer routes.

Rhodes sits near Turkish waters, which adds some practical points. Ships that cross between the two countries may be managed from either side, and a gauging scope agreed in one place may need to be carried out in the other. Where that happens, we need to know which technicians will cross and what visas each needs before the dates are set. For ships calling at EU ports an Inventory of Hazardous Materials must be on board, and changes of ownership or management on the island routes sometimes prompt a condition check outside the usual survey cycle.

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

A gauging job at Rhodes 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 Rhodes International Airport Diagoras, usually through Athens, and travels by road to the harbour; the airport is a short drive from the town. Port passes, launch boarding for ships at anchor and any terminal permits are organised by the ship's agent from the crew list and equipment details we send ahead. Every technician needs a Schengen visa issued in India, because Greece applies the Schengen rules. For work that also covers a Turkish port we check that country's separate entry requirement at enquiry. Telling us the winter refit dates early helps visa planning.

• 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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