Ultrasonic Thickness Measurement at Teesport and the River Tees

Inspection services for ships at Teesport

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

Drydocks, jetties and quays for gauging on the Tees

At UK Docks' yard on the former Smith's Dock site, a docking is the classic window for renewal or intermediate survey gauging. The yard's planners, the owner's superintendent and the class surveyor settle the TM plan before the ship arrives, the team works through tanks as they are cleaned, gas-freed and lit, and bottom and side shell are reached from the dock floor once the ship has settled on the blocks. Because the yard handles a lot of offshore support vessels, dredgers and survey ships, many dockings here involve thick-walled pipework and heavy deck equipment as well as plating, which we include in the plan rather than leaving for later.

On the jetties, the terminal sets the rules. A tanker at a Seal Sands or North Tees berth is worked under that terminal's permit system, which generally limits us to deck plating, cargo and ballast line wall thickness and any tanks the ship has certified gas-free. At the container, ro-ro and bulk berths the constraint is time rather than permits, so the scope is divided by space and spread across calls where the ship runs a regular service. Ships at the Tees Bay anchorage can be reached by launch through the agent when the weather allows, for a short deck and tank programme.

• UK Docks, former Smith's Dock site at Teesport Commerce Park: four drydocks for renewal and docking survey gauging.
• Seal Sands and North Tees jetties: deck, piping and gas-free tank gauging on oil, chemical and gas tankers within terminal permits.
• Teesport container and ro-ro berths: scopes split across repeat calls on feeders and freight ships.
• Bulk and steel berths, including the Redcar bulk terminal: hold, hopper and hatch-cover gauging during discharge.
• Tees Bay anchorage: launch-borne gauging on ships waiting for a berth, when the weather allows.

Port state control, vetting and recycling rules on Teesside

Port state control on the Tees is carried out by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency within the Paris MoU, and the estuary's mix of older tankers and bulk carriers means expanded inspections are common. Tanker owners also face commercial vetting: oil majors inspect through OCIMF's SIRE 2.0 programme and chemical shippers through the Chemical Distribution Institute, and inspectors under both schemes look for evidence that hull and tank condition is known and managed. For a ship over fifteen years old trading to these jetties, a recent thickness record, or a Condition Assessment Programme rating where charterers ask for it, is part of staying employable.

The Tees is also one of the places in Britain where ships end their lives. Under the UK's ship recycling regulations, UK-flagged ships must carry an Inventory of Hazardous Materials, and ships that also trade to EU ports need one under the EU Ship Recycling Regulation; the Hong Kong Convention, in force internationally since June 2025, adds the same requirement for ships of its parties. Owners weighing whether an older ship is worth another renewal survey or should go for recycling usually want a condition gauging first, because the steel renewal estimate is often what decides it.

Ships trading to Teesport 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 Teesport

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

Teesside International Airport, near Darlington, is the closest airport but has a limited route network; Newcastle International has more connections and is within reach by road or rail. Middlesbrough has rail links to the national network. Teams travel from India on UK visit visas, so for a docking we fix travel once the yard confirms the slot. Access to PD Ports' berths and to the oil and chemical terminals is ISPS-controlled and arranged through the ship's agent, with terminal inductions where required; yard passes come through UK Docks.

• 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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