Ultrasonic Thickness Gauging for LNG and Vehicle Carriers at Sagunto

Inspection services for ships at Sagunto

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

Terminal berths, the gas jetty and the docking question

The LNG terminal sits within a tightly controlled safety zone, and any contractor needs prior clearance from the terminal operator as well as the master. The team keeps to spaces outside the cargo containment: ballast tanks, double-bottom and wing spaces reached from the ballast side, deck structure away from hazardous zones, and machinery-space piping. Vehicle carriers use their own berths, where discharge and loading are scheduled tightly, so the useful window may be only a few hours with the decks cleared.

Sagunto does not have a repair drydock for merchant ships. Vessels that need docking go to Valencia's own repair yard, a short coastal run to the south, or to yards elsewhere in Spain and the Mediterranean, and Sagunto readings are recorded so that the docking yard and the class surveyor can use them. Steel and bulk ships at the quays offer more time, because discharge takes days, and hold gauging can follow the cargo out once the terminal allows access.

• LNG regasification terminal berth: ballast tank, hull and deck gauging on gas carriers outside containment, within terminal permits.
• Vehicle terminal berths: car-deck, ramp and ballast tank gauging on car carriers between discharge and loading.
• Steel and metal products quays: hold, hatch cover and tank top gauging on steel carriers after discharge.
• Dry bulk and project cargo berths: hold frame and ballast tank readings on bulk and general cargo ships.
• Open-roads anchorage: occasional launch-served gauging, only when swell and wind allow safe transfer.
• Handover to a docking yard: readings in TM plan format for repair work in Valencia or elsewhere.

Spanish maritime authority and a changing gas trade

Spanish ports apply Paris MoU port state control through the maritime administration, with the local harbour master's office, the capitanía marítima, supervising ship operations and safety. Ships calling at Sagunto may be selected for inspection like those in any Spanish port, and the terminals add their own vetting for gas carriers and vehicle carriers. For a technician team the practical consequence is a permit regime that is strict, formal and carefully documented.

The ships at Sagunto sit in a fast-moving part of the market. LNG carriers are among the most valuable vessels afloat, and older steam-turbine ships are being retired or repurposed, so owners and buyers want solid evidence of hull condition. Vehicle carriers on European routes are subject to EU ETS and FuelEU Maritime accounting, and the Ship Recycling Regulation's Inventory of Hazardous Materials matters when an older vessel changes hands. Thickness readings taken at Sagunto help all of these decisions.

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

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

Valencia Airport is the main arrival point, with a road transfer north to Sagunto that is short compared with most port journeys, and Alicante and Barcelona are alternatives. Technicians from India need a Schengen visa for Spain, which we apply for once the call is confirmed. Terminal access, ISPS clearance and gas-terminal induction are arranged through the ship's agent, who submits the team's passport details and certificates ahead of time.

• 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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