Ship Thickness Measurement in Suez, Suez Bay and Ain Sokhna

Inspection services for ships at Suez

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

Where gauging happens around Suez

Suez Shipyard is the main repair yard at the southern end of the canal and the place for in-dock gauging, repair-boundary work and full renewal-survey programmes. Ships diverted there after a transit incident or damage at sea gain most from early gauging: measuring the plating around the damage before the repair specification is drawn up tells the yard and class how far renewal must extend, and shows whether neighbouring structure has thinned beyond what the drawings suggest.

Afloat work splits between the bay and the gulf ports. Suez Bay anchorage gauging is arranged by launch through the ship's agent and timed against the convoy; Adabiya and Ain Sokhna give alongside access with gate passes requested in advance; and at the SUMED berths, tanker work follows the terminal's rules on portable equipment, permits and simultaneous operations. Gulf of Suez offshore vessel inspection fits between field trips: support vessels returning from the fields can be gauged alongside once deck cargo is cleared and tanks can be opened. The team moves between these locations by road along the western shore of the gulf, so several ships in different berths can be attended on one visit.

• Suez Shipyard — Suez Canal Authority repair yard at the canal's southern entrance; dock and repair-berth stays for renewal-survey and repair-boundary gauging.
• Suez Bay anchorage — where northbound convoys assemble; short, focused measurements on deck, tanks and pipework, with boarding by launch through the agent.
• Ain Sokhna port — deep-water container and bulk port in the Suez Canal Economic Zone; hold, tank and deck gauging alongside between cargo operations.
• SUMED terminal, Ain Sokhna — tanker discharge berths for the pipeline to the Mediterranean; deck, ballast tank and deck-pipeline gauging under terminal rules.
• Adabiya port — bulk and general cargo berths on the western shore of Suez Bay; empty-hold gauging after discharge and deck work while alongside.

Regulatory and security context at Suez

Inspections of foreign ships calling at Suez, Adabiya and Ain Sokhna fall to the Egyptian Authority for Maritime Safety, working within the Mediterranean MoU; ships simply transiting the canal are not port state control calls. The Gulf of Suez is not part of the Mediterranean emission control area, and at this end of the canal ships work to the global 0.50% sulphur cap. A northbound ship must nonetheless be on 0.10% fuel, or running its scrubber in ECA mode, by the time it reaches the Mediterranean at Port Said, which makes Suez the last convenient point to check scrubber wash-water and overboard piping before a long ECA leg.

The security situation in the southern Red Sea, where merchant ships have come under attack since November 2023, pushed many owners onto the Cape of Good Hope route, and canal traffic fell sharply as a result. Ships that do pass Suez follow their owners' and underwriters' security guidance, and we plan attendance at Suez on the same basis. Separately, the Gulf of Suez oil fields keep a fleet of offshore support and supply vessels working locally, and their hull, deck and tank condition is a standing concern for their operators and class between docking periods.

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

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

The team flies into Cairo International Airport and travels by road to Suez, Adabiya or Ain Sokhna, which are linked by road along the gulf. At the anchorage, the ship's agent books the boat and agrees a boarding slot that leaves the ship clear for its convoy; at the ports, the shipyard and the SUMED terminal, the agent obtains gate passes for the team and its equipment, which needs passport details in advance. Visas for Egypt are secured before the technicians leave India, so an early ETA or docking window is what lets us place the team at Suez in time 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.

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