Tulcea Hull Thickness Measurement and Ship Gauging

Inspection services for ships at Tulcea

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

Where ships can be gauged at Tulcea

The shipyard is the natural centre for structured work. Vard Tulcea is a newbuilding yard, so most of the steel there is new, but its slipways and quays host hull sections, blocks and vessels at different stages, and condition checks at handover or after modification are a common request. If a ship needs a drydock rather than a quay, the superintendent should check with the agent which dock capacity exists on the river and what a docking elsewhere would involve before committing to a plan at Tulcea.

Cargo ships and passenger craft are gauged alongside. At the cargo quays, holds are available once a ship is discharged, and ballast tanks, deck plating and hatch covers can be measured around cargo work. At the passenger quays, vessels between excursion seasons can have hull, tank and deck structure measured at a convenient berth. Anything below the waterline that cannot be reached from inside will normally need a docking, and for river vessels that means one of the yards on the lower Danube or the Black Sea coast.

• Vard Tulcea shipyard — specialised newbuilding on the riverbank; condition gauging of hulls and vessels at handover or after conversion.
• Commercial cargo quays — bulk and break-bulk berths; holds, tank tops and deck gauged between discharge and loading.
• Passenger and excursion quays — delta cruise craft and ferries; hull, bilge, tank and deck measurement between seasons.
• River lay-by berths — ships idled by ice, low water or a lack of cargo; thorough tank and deck work alongside.
• Docking alternatives — Galați, Constanța and Mangalia for ships whose underwater plating needs a drydock rather than a quay.

Port state control and the Delta's rules

Ships calling at Tulcea are subject to port state control by the Romanian Naval Authority under the Paris MoU and the Black Sea MoU, and river-sea vessels are also examined for their suitability on inland waterways. Because the delta is a protected natural area with strong environmental controls, expectations around oil, ballast and waste handling are taken seriously, and a ship with corroded tanks or leaking piping is a greater concern here than on an open coast. Measured thickness records show where a vessel's boundaries stand.

EU rules also apply to ships entering Romanian ports, including the Inventory of Hazardous Materials, emissions trading where a voyage qualifies and FuelEU Maritime. Romania's membership of the Schengen area means technicians travelling from India need Schengen visas. For owners of passenger vessels, the combination of environmental sensitivity and public-safety duties makes regular structural checks especially valuable, and they can be scheduled in the months when the excursion fleet is laid up.

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

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

Bucharest Henri Coandă Airport is the main international gateway, followed by a long road journey to Tulcea; Constanța is a shorter transfer for some routings, and a small local airport exists with limited services. The shipyard and the commercial quays are controlled facilities, so the ship's agent arranges gate passes for the technicians and equipment from passport details sent in advance. Romania is a Schengen state, so the team travelling from India needs Schengen visas, planned alongside the vessel's schedule.

• 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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