Hull and Hold Gauging for Ships Loading at Rouen on the Seine

Inspection services for ships at Rouen

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

Where ships can be gauged around Rouen

Most gauging at Rouen is done alongside, at the grain terminals and the general cargo quays. A bulk carrier that has discharged or that arrives in ballast presents empty holds, which can be entered once the ship's enclosed-space procedure allows it, and the hold frames, tank top, hatch coamings and cover panels are measured at that point. Ballast tanks are worked in parallel by a second pair of technicians where the schedule requires it. A ship that is already loading cannot be measured in its working holds, so the plan puts hold readings ahead of the first cargo operation and moves to the ballast tanks and deck after that.

Product tankers at the river-side oil and chemical berths are treated according to the terminal's rules. Cargo tanks are not entered while cargo is worked, and instruments on deck need the terminal's permission in hazardous zones, but ballast tanks of a laden ship are accessible and are the usual target. Ships that need a drydock normally leave the river for a yard at Le Havre, on the Channel coast or elsewhere in Europe, though HAROPA lists ship repair among the services of the Seine ports, and minor repair afloat at a river quay is possible. A launch is rarely needed because nearly everything happens at a quay.

• Grain terminals on the Seine — empty hold, hatch coaming and cover gauging on bulk carriers before the first loading operation.
• General cargo and dry-bulk quays downstream of the city — tank top, frames, ballast tanks and deck plating on coasters and multipurpose ships.
• River-side petroleum and chemical berths — ballast tank and deck gauging on product tankers within the terminal's safety rules.
• City-centre quays — hull and deck checks on passenger ships and small cargo vessels during a scheduled stay.
• Seine lay-by and waiting points — readings on ships held for a berth or for the tide, subject to launch and safety arrangements.
• Repair quays at the Seine ports — wall-thickness checks on piping and deck structure while minor repair is done afloat.

Regulation and trade pressures on the Seine

Port state control in France is carried out under the Paris MoU by the Centres de sécurité des navires of the French maritime administration, and ships calling at Rouen are inspected under the same risk-based targeting as at the coast. A bulk carrier with corroded hatch coamings, wasted hold frames or defective air pipes is the kind of ship that draws a detailed inspection. Measuring the holds before the ship has been loaded, rather than after an inspector has seen them, lets the master and the superintendent decide what to repair on the river and what to defer to the next dock.

Ships calling at EU ports must also carry an Inventory of Hazardous Materials under the EU Ship Recycling Regulation, and voyages are subject to EU ETS and FuelEU Maritime requirements. Grain carriers are often mid-life or older, and ships over about fifteen years face broader survey gauging at their third renewal. For bulk carriers the framework is the Enhanced Survey Programme and the IACS requirements for bulk carrier hull surveys, with coamings, hold frames and ballast tanks the areas where substantial corrosion is most often found. Superintendents planning a docking after the Seine call use the readings to prepare the steel estimate for the yard.

Ships trading to Rouen are inside a sulphur emission control area, where fuel must not exceed 0.10% sulphur unless an exhaust gas cleaning system (scrubber) is fitted. Scrubber wash-water piping, the overboard discharge and the hull penetration around it are among the fastest-corroding parts of a modern ship, so they belong in the gauging scope at every docking and, on open-loop systems, between dockings.

How a thickness measurement job runs at Rouen

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

Teams normally fly to Paris Charles de Gaulle and reach Rouen by train or road, while the small regional airport near the city is not a practical route from India. The ship's agent arranges port passes for the named technicians at the terminal in question, which differ between the grain, petroleum and city quays. France belongs to the Schengen area, so every technician needs a Schengen visa, and we apply once the call is firm, with an invitation from the owner or agent. Travel is booked against the pilot and tide timetable the agent confirms for the ship.

• 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.

Related