Ultrasonic Thickness Gauging for Ferries at Rosslare Europort

Inspection services for ships at Rosslare

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

Where gauging is done at Rosslare Europort

Work at Rosslare happens at the linkspan berths. Ferries discharge and load over their stern or bow ramps, and the team boards once the ship is secure, working on vehicle decks in lanes released by the chief officer and in tanks and voids that the crew has prepared. Ramp hinges and bow or stern door structure are examined with MPI where cracking is a concern, and engine-room sea-water and scrubber piping is gauged while the main engines are stopped. The terminal is compact, so moving between the gangway, the car decks and the engine room takes little time, which counts on a short turnaround.

There is no drydock or ship-repair yard at Rosslare, and no sheltered lay-up area in the harbour. Ships anchoring in the bay or off the harbour to wait out weather or a berth can be boarded by launch through the agent, but the anchorage is open and launch work is only practical in settled conditions. For bottom shell, sea chests and stern gear, gauging waits for the ship's docking elsewhere; at Rosslare the scope is the internal structure, decks, ramps and piping that can be reached while the ship keeps to her schedule.

• Linkspan berths for the Welsh routes — vehicle-deck, ramp and ballast tank readings staged across daily turnarounds.
• Continental route berths — larger slices of deck and tank gauging on ferries and freight ships with longer layovers.
• Car carrier calls — main and hoistable deck plating and internal ramps gauged as each deck is emptied of vehicles.
• Ferry engine rooms — sea-water, fire-main and scrubber wash-water piping UT while the engines are stopped.
• Rosslare Bay anchorage — launch-borne deck readings on ships waiting for weather or a berth, in settled conditions only.

EU rules on the ferry routes from Rosslare

Rosslare is an EU port, so port state control falls to the Marine Survey Office of Ireland's Department of Transport, which carries out inspections under the Paris MoU. For ro-pax ships, EU law adds its own regime of regular inspections of ro-ro passenger ships on scheduled services, which brings inspectors on board more often than a cargo ship would expect. Steel condition in vehicle decks, ramp structure, watertight doors and ballast tanks is part of what those inspections look at, and a current set of readings helps the operator answer questions on the spot rather than after the ship has sailed.

Emissions rules split Rosslare's routes in two. Voyages to Cherbourg, Dunkirk or Bilbao run between EU ports, so the EU ETS and FuelEU Maritime apply to all of their emissions, whereas the crossings to Fishguard and Pembroke Dock end at a non-EU port and count at half. From 2026, shipping companies surrender allowances for the full share of their covered emissions, which raises the value of clean hulls and well-maintained systems. Ships under non-EU flags calling here must carry an Inventory of Hazardous Materials under the EU Ship Recycling Regulation. Together these give operators good reason to keep detailed records of steel and piping condition on the ships they intend to keep on these routes.

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

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

Dublin Airport is the usual arrival point, with the onward journey to Rosslare by road or by the railway line that ends at the port; Cork Airport is an alternative for some connections. Ireland's visa system is separate from both Schengen and the UK, so the team travels from India on Irish visas, and a programme that also covers a ship at its Welsh port of call needs UK entry as well. Terminal access is ISPS-controlled and arranged by the ship's agent or the ferry operator.

• 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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