Ship Thickness Gauging on the Guadalquivir: The Port of Seville

Inspection services for ships at Seville

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

Where gauging fits in the Port of Seville

Nearly all gauging is done alongside at the cargo quays and lay-by berths inside the lock. General cargo and bulk ships can be gauged between discharge and loading, with hold frames, tank tops, coamings and hatch cover structure readily accessible in calm water. Project-cargo ships, which often have long stays for heavy lifts, offer extended windows for deck and ballast tank work. Ships lying idle or waiting for cargo at lay-by berths allow longer programmes with fewer interruptions from cargo operations.

The port has ship-repair capacity on the river for smaller commercial ships, tugs and workboats, but larger ships needing a drydock typically go to yards on the Atlantic coast, with Cádiz bay the closest major centre. Anchorage work does not apply here because ships do not wait on the river as they would off an open coast; any pre-arrival gauging is done at the previous port. Technicians can follow the ship to the repair yard for post-blast readings if the owner wants them, and the steel list from Seville serves as the starting point.

• General cargo and bulk quays: hold frame, tank top, coaming and hatch cover gauging between discharge and loading
• Project-cargo berths: deck, ballast tank and hull plating readings during long stays for heavy-lift work
• Lay-by berths inside the lock: coasters and cargo ships waiting for employment or a yard slot
• River-side repair quays: smaller ships, tugs and workboats under repair afloat or on slipways
• Liquid-bulk berths: deck and ballast tank gauging on small tankers and bunker craft, subject to terminal rules
• Yards in Cádiz bay and along the Atlantic coast: docking-stage gauging after steel lists are prepared in Seville

River navigation, regulation and the local trade

Port state control at Seville is exercised for the Paris MoU by inspectors of the Capitanía Marítima under the Dirección General de la Marina Mercante. Small cargo ships on regional trades are frequent subjects, and inspectors check structure, hatch covers and watertight integrity closely. Because ships in Seville have made a river transit and a lock passage, their records of draught and ballast handling matter to the master, and a recent set of readings supports any discussion about structure or damage from groundings or contact with the bank.

EU rules add pressure on older coasters and bulkers. The Ship Recycling Regulation requires an Inventory of Hazardous Materials on ships calling at EU ports, and owners deciding whether to renew or retire ageing tonnage commonly review structure at the same time. EU ETS and FuelEU Maritime also affect operating decisions on short-sea ships. Gauging in a calm, controlled port like Seville produces clear, repeatable measurements that owners can use in those decisions.

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

A gauging job at Seville 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.

Technicians fly from India through a European hub to Seville Airport, which is close to the city, and reach the port by road. The ship's agent arranges port and lock access and informs the team of the river passage schedule. Indian nationals need a Schengen visa to enter Spain, so travel is timed around visa issue and the ship's confirmed arrival, and since river passages are scheduled in advance, dates are usually firm enough to plan with confidence.

• 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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