Ship Thickness Measurement in Szczecin and Świnoujście

Inspection services for ships at Szczecin

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

Where ships are gauged around Szczecin

On the Szczecin quays, gauging follows cargo operations. Bulk carriers and general cargo ships are measured one hold at a time, whenever a hold stands empty between discharge and loading, with double-bottom, hopper and topside tanks entered under the ship's enclosed-space permits. River-sea coasters, with their compact holds and thin plating, need a dense reading pattern and careful calibration, but their scopes are small enough to finish within a normal cargo stay. Low-salinity water at the quays makes no difference to the method; the readings record what the ship's whole trading life has done to the steel.

At Świnoujście the pace is different. The ferries keep to timetables, so work on vehicle decks, rail decks, ramps and tanks is packaged to fit lay-by periods. LNG carriers at the terminal are under strict safety rules, so gauging alongside covers only the main deck, ballast tanks and sea water lines, and never the cargo containment system. At MSR Gryfia, the docking crew's staging and tank preparation set the pace, and gauging of the double bottom, side shell and pipework keeps step with it. For ships waiting out in the Pomeranian Bay, the agent arranges a launch.

• Szczecin bulk and general cargo quays — bulk carriers, steel and project cargo ships; hold frames, tank tops and hatch coamings gauged during long cargo stays
• MSR Gryfia, Szczecin — ship-repair yard with docking capacity; full hull, tank and piping gauging for renewal surveys and for steel lists drawn up before the ship arrives
• Świnoujście ferry terminal — ro-pax and rail-capable ferries to Ystad and Trelleborg; vehicle-deck, rail-deck and ramp gauging during lay-by
• Świnoujście LNG terminal — LNG carriers discharging; deck, ballast and sea water piping work only, inside the terminal's safety regime
• Świnoujście coastal bulk berths — deeper-draught bulk carriers; hold and ballast-tank gauging during cargo operations
• Pomeranian Bay anchorage — ships waiting off Świnoujście for a berth or the fairway; a launch out of Świnoujście, booked by the agent, carries the team

Polish and cross-border context for Szczecin shipping

The Pomeranian Bay and the lagoon fairway are Baltic SECA waters, where fuel may contain no more than 0.10% sulphur, and Poland, like its neighbours, enforces port state control through the Paris MoU. The Baltic was the first sulphur ECA to be designated, so ferries on the Sweden routes have worked under tightening sulphur limits for longer than most; operators met the current limit with compliant fuel or exhaust gas scrubbers, and where scrubbers were chosen, the acidic discharge lines are now a standing item in the gauging plan. Because the Ystad and Trelleborg crossings link two EU states, their emissions are fully counted for the EU ETS (shipping joined it in 2024) and for FuelEU Maritime (applied from 2025). The LNG terminal is Poland's import point for seaborne gas, which brings LNG carriers to the coast end of the complex.

Szczecin's position on the German border shapes its trade and its logistics. Cargo moves between the port and Germany by road, rail and river, and Berlin is closer than Warsaw. For the dry-bulk fleets calling here and managed from the city, gauging under the ESP regime grows with each renewal survey, with IACS UR Z10.2 covering single-side-skin bulk carriers and Z10.5 the double-skin designs, while river-sea and short-sea vessels are surveyed to UR Z7 and their own class rules. Ship inspection in Świnoujście tends to be about ferries and gas carriers, and inspection in Szczecin about bulk and coasters.

Ships trading to Szczecin 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 Szczecin

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

The team flies into Szczecin-Goleniów Airport or, for wider international connections, Berlin Brandenburg Airport across the German border, and continues by road to Szczecin or Świnoujście. The ship's agent sorts out ISPS gate passes for the quays and terminals and launches for anchored ships; MSR Gryfia handles entry to the yard. Poland and Germany are both Schengen states, so one Schengen visa covers the route for our technicians from India; we fix dates as soon as the docking or cargo window is firm.

• 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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