Ship Gauging at Tekirdağ: Thickness Measurement on the Thracian Coast

Inspection services for ships at Tekirdağ

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

Where gauging is realistic at Tekirdağ

Gauging here is done alongside, under the access and safety rules of each terminal. At the bulk and general cargo quays, holds are measured once discharged and cleaned, with frames, hopper and tank top plating and hatch coamings on the list. At the liquid berths, certified ballast tanks, deck plating and deck piping are the usual scope, and cargo tanks are entered only when a parcel is finished and the tanks are gas-free and certified. The container terminal allows ballast tanks, hatch covers and deck structure to be reached between cargo operations.

Ships waiting for a berth or for orders anchor off the town, and a launch can be arranged by the agent when the sea is calm enough. In the Marmara's less settled weather the agent's judgement decides whether a launch transfer is sensible, so the team plans a short, prioritised scope and is ready to drop it if the swell rises. For a drydock the ship goes to a yard elsewhere in the Marmara, and pre-docking readings from Tekirdağ shorten the planning at the other end.

• Bulk and general cargo quays at the town port — holds, hatch coamings, deck and tank tops on ships once discharged and cleaned
• Edible-oil and fuel jetties — certified ballast tanks, deck plating and deck piping on small tankers between parcels
• Deep-water container terminal — ballast tanks, hatch covers and deck structure on feeders and larger ships between cargo operations
• LNG receiving jetty towards Marmara Ereğlisi — deck, ballast tanks and engine room piping on carriers, with cargo containment left untouched
• Open anchorage off Tekirdağ — condition gauging on ships awaiting a berth or orders, reached by launch when the sea allows
• Docking elsewhere on the Marmara — Tekirdağ readings carried into a yard's steel estimate

Port state control and regional trade

Ships at Tekirdağ fall under the Black Sea MoU and Mediterranean MoU port state control regimes that Turkey belongs to, enforced through the local harbour master and the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure. Bulk carriers and general cargo ships on short regional trades attract attention for hold condition, hatch cover sealing and corroded ventilators, and an unannounced inspection can turn a vague concern about wastage into a firm request for readings. The coast sees older tonnage regularly, and owners who keep up a gauging record often find it useful when an inspector asks for evidence.

The trades that feed Tekirdağ are tied to the Thracian economy: processors of sunflower and other oilseeds, flour and feed mills, the factory belt around Çorlu and a gas network supplied through the LNG jetty. Owners of ships working those trades range from large Turkish bulk fleets to small family companies running coasters, and their technical departments are often lean, which makes a clear gauging report with marked-up compartments especially useful. Voyages that continue to EU ports bring Inventory of Hazardous Materials requirements and carbon-reporting duties.

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

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

The nearest airports with international service are in Istanbul, and the team reaches Tekirdağ by road along the Marmara coast, with Çorlu's regional airport an option for domestic connections. Terminal access is arranged through the ship's agent, who also books anchorage launches and relays the terminal's requirements for gas-free certificates and permits. Indian passport holders need a Turkish visa, so we apply as soon as the ship's call is nominated and ask the agent to warn us if the berth moves.

• 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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