Ship Hull and Deck Gauging in Trogir and on Čiovo Island

Inspection services for ships at Trogir

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

Where gauging can be carried out around Trogir

Facilities in Trogir are on a small scale, and we describe them generically rather than promise capacity. The shipyard on Čiovo and nearby marine businesses repair and refit small to medium steel and aluminium craft, and a vessel hauled out or on a slipway gives direct access to the underwater hull. The current status and capabilities of any yard should be confirmed with the owner and the agent when planning. Vessels too large for the local slips normally go to a yard in Split, Rijeka or elsewhere on the Adriatic for docking.

Away from the yard, gauging is done alongside. Ferries, excursion boats and workboats at the town quays or at a repair berth can have decks, ballast tanks, voids and engine room tank tops measured when they are idle. Larger ships anchored in Kaštela Bay, or berthed at Split, can be reached from Trogir by road or launch, which makes the town a convenient base. The agent or operator arranges quay access and boat transfers, and the work is scheduled around the vessel's maintenance programme.

• Shipyard waterfront on Čiovo — hull plating, decks and tanks on vessels hauled out or alongside, subject to yard availability
• Town quays — ferries and excursion boats gauged on decks, voids and ballast tanks during winter lay-up
• Repair berths in the channel — workboats and tugs measured before and after steel renewal
• Kaštela Bay anchorage — launch access for ships waiting for a Split berth or yard slot
• Split cargo terminals nearby — bulk and general cargo ships gauged on the same mobilisation
• Pre-docking visits — steel estimates for vessels that will go to a larger yard for a docking survey

Regulation and the Trogir maritime picture

Vessels calling at Trogir fall under Croatian port state control within the Paris MoU system, with the harbour master's authority for the Split-Dalmatia area handling inspections along this part of the coast. Domestic passenger vessels are surveyed under national rules that follow EU passenger ship safety requirements, so hull condition and watertight boundaries receive regular attention. Excursion vessels that carry many passengers in summer are a particular focus, and operators often commission gauging before their annual survey to avoid surprises.

EU rules also come into play. The EU Ship Recycling Regulation requires an Inventory of Hazardous Materials on larger ships calling at EU ports, and the EU emissions rules reach ships above their size thresholds. For the small craft that dominate Trogir, steel condition matters more than carbon accounting: an owner deciding whether to renew plating or replace a boat wants measured numbers. The region's economy is strongly seasonal, with tourism driving the passenger fleet, so work is concentrated in the shoulder months, and early booking secures the best access.

Since 1 May 2025 the whole Mediterranean has been a sulphur emission control area, so ships calling at Trogir burn 0.10% sulphur fuel or run a scrubber. Scrubber wash-water piping, the overboard discharge and the hull penetration around it corrode quickly in service and are worth adding to the gauging scope at every docking.

How a thickness measurement job runs at Trogir

A gauging job at Trogir 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.

Split Airport lies very close to Trogir, between the town and the city, and offers seasonal European connections; Zagreb gives year-round links and a motorway to the coast. The agent or the operator arranges quay access and, where needed, a launch for vessels in the bay. The technicians travel from India on Schengen visas, so visa timing sets the earliest start. Combining Trogir with Split jobs can make better use of a single trip, and we plan the sequence once all dates are known.

• 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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