Ultrasonic Thickness Measurement and Hull Gauging in Varna

Inspection services for ships at Varna

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

Where ships are gauged in and around Varna

The two repair yards are the natural places for a full gauging programme. MTG Dolphin combines ship repair with newbuilding work, and Odessos Shiprepair Yard concentrates on repair and drydocking. In dock, the team can reach bottom and bilge plating, the sea chests and the lower side shell, while staging rigged for the repair gives reach to the upper frames in the holds and to hatch cover undersides that would otherwise need a cherry-picker. Gauging in the first days of the stay, before staging is moved, lets the yard and class agree the renewal list from measured figures rather than estimates.

Outside the yards, gauging is done afloat. At Varna West the holds of a bulk carrier can be measured after discharge and before loading, and ballast tanks can be entered whenever the chief officer has them ventilated and the entry permit signed. At Varna East and at the bay anchorage, the usual scope is deck plating, hatch coamings, air pipes and ventilators, deck piping and whichever tanks are empty, with the work fitted around cargo operations, bunkering and any port state control visit. Each location has its own access rules, and the plan is written around them before the team travels.

• MTG Dolphin — Varna ship repair and newbuilding yard; drydock stays give access to bottom, bilge and side shell plating for renewal-survey gauging.
• Odessos Shiprepair Yard — repair and drydocking yard in Varna; suited to pre-repair gauging of holds, ballast tanks and hatch covers while the yard's staging is in place.
• Port Varna West — bulk berths near Devnya; empty holds between discharge and loading allow frame, bracket and hopper plating to be gauged.
• Port Varna East — city terminal for general cargo and containers; deck, hatch coaming and deck-piping gauging during the cargo call.
• Varna Bay anchorage — ships waiting for a berth or cargo; ballast tank and deck gauging with launch access arranged through the ship's agent.

Port state control, emissions rules and Black Sea trading conditions

Bulgaria, as an EU member state, inspects ships under the EU port state control directive and holds membership of both the Paris MoU and the Black Sea MoU. On older bulk carriers, structural findings such as wasted hatch coamings, holed air pipes and corroded deck fittings can turn a routine inspection into a deficiency to be rectified before departure, with class called in and repairs agreed before the ship sails. Having measured thicknesses on file, or having them taken while the ship is still alongside, gives the owner and the class surveyor the figures they need to settle on a permanent or temporary repair.

No emission control area covers the Black Sea, which leaves ships at sea on the global 0.50% sulphur cap; at a Bulgarian berth, though, EU law requires fuel of 0.10% sulphur or less, or an equivalent abatement method. Voyages to and from Varna are covered by the EU ETS, which has applied to shipping since 2024, and by FuelEU Maritime since 2025; both now sit alongside steel condition in decisions about whether to keep, retrofit or sell an older ship. Trading conditions in the Black Sea have changed since the war in Ukraine began in 2022, with routing and war-risk cover set by owners and underwriters. That affects voyage planning more than gauging alongside in Varna, and we follow the owner's security guidance when scheduling attendance.

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

A gauging job at Varna 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.

The team flies into Varna Airport, or into Sofia for wider international connections and onward travel to the coast. The repair yards and the Port Varna terminals are ISPS facilities, so gate passes for the technicians and their equipment are requested through the ship's agent or the yard's security department with passport details in advance; at the anchorage, the agent books the launch. Because Bulgaria is in the Schengen area, the team needs Schengen visas, and we schedule mobilisation from India around the visa decision as well as the ship's arrival, so tell us the yard or ETA window as early as you can.

• 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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