Ultrasonic Gauging for Ships at Sète and Frontignan

Inspection services for ships at Sète

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

Where ships can be gauged at Sète

Alongside work is the norm. The bulk and general cargo quays take bulkers and coasters that can be gauged between discharge and loading, with passes issued through the port gate by the ship's agent. The ferry quay allows access to vehicle decks, ramps and accessible tanks during turnarounds, though passenger and freight operations take priority and the technicians must adapt to the timetable. The oil berths at Frontignan follow terminal safety rules, so work in tanks only proceeds with the ship's permit and the terminal's agreement.

Sète has a repair side focused on fishing boats, tugs, coasters and workboats, with slipways and a small floating or lift capacity, but it is not a place for larger merchant ships to dry-dock. Bulk carriers, product tankers and ferries that need steel renewal usually go to Marseille, La Ciotat, Barcelona or another larger Mediterranean yard. The Sète call then serves as the pre-docking gauging stop, where readings help the owner decide how much steel to plan for before the voyage.

• Commercial bulk quays, for hold, hopper tank and hatch coaming gauging on fertiliser and grain carriers.
• Ferry quay, for vehicle deck, ramp and ballast tank gauging on Morocco ro-pax ships during turnarounds.
• Oil product berths at Frontignan, for product tanker ballast tank and deck gauging within terminal rules.
• General cargo berths, for coasters and breakbulk ships alongside.
• Slipways and small repair berths, for fishing vessels, tugs and workboats rather than merchant ships.
• Outer anchorage in the Gulf of Lion, for launch-served work in calm weather only.

Port state control and Mediterranean rules at Sète

Foreign ships calling at Sète are subject to Paris MoU port state control, carried out by the French maritime administration's ship safety centres. Ferries on regular international routes, bulk carriers of mixed age and small tankers all appear in the targeting system, and an inspector who finds corroded decks or tank steel can hold a ship until repairs are agreed. Recent gauging records support the master's case that the steel is sound.

The Mediterranean is a SOx emission control area, so scrubber-fitted ships working on the Sète-Morocco route use their systems on every crossing, and wash-water and overboard piping carry heavier duty than before. The EU Ship Recycling Regulation requires hazardous-materials inventories on ships calling at EU ports, EU ETS applies to emissions on voyages to and from Sète, and FuelEU Maritime sets rules on fuel. Frontignan's oil terminal also brings tanker vetting and the enhanced survey programme into the picture for product and chemical carriers.

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

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

Montpellier-Méditerranée airport is the nearest international airport, and Sète lies within road reach of it, while Marseille and Béziers are alternatives when schedules suit. The ship's agent arranges gate passes for the quay and any launch for anchored ships. France is in the Schengen area, so each technician needs a Schengen visa from India before travelling, which sets the lead time. Early notice of the ferry or berth schedule helps us fit the visa and the flights around it.

• 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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