Vigo Hull Gauging: Thickness Measurement in Galicia's Biggest Repair Port

Inspection services for ships at Vigo

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

Yards, quays and anchorages where gauging happens

The yards are the centre of Vigo's gauging work. Metalships & Docks operates floating docks and a long repair quay on the ría and takes mid-sized merchant ships, offshore vessels and fishing ships; several other yards, among them Freire, Armón and Barreras, build and repair vessels from small to large. A dock stay gives full access to the bottom and side shell, and the superintendent usually wants renewal-survey and condition readings completed before steel orders are placed. We work to the yard's sequence and report compartment by compartment, so the steel list can be revised as tanks are cleaned and released.

Outside the yards, gauging is done alongside at the fishing quays, the vehicle and container terminals and the cruise berths, or at the anchorage in the ría, where launches reach ships waiting for a berth or for orders. The sheltered water makes anchorage boarding easier than on most Atlantic harbours, and holds and ballast tanks on an idle bulk or general cargo ship can be measured while it waits. Equipment travels with the technicians, including magnetic particle yokes for cracks at frame ends, hatch corners and welded attachments found during the readings.

• Metalships & Docks, Vigo — dry-dock and afloat gauging on merchant, offshore and fishing vessels around its floating docks
• Other ría yards (Freire, Armón, Barreras) — newbuild, conversion and repair gauging as each yard's programme allows
• Fishing port quays — hull, fish-hold boundary and tank gauging on trawlers and freezer vessels in port
• Vehicle terminal berths — ramp, vehicle deck and ballast tank gauging on car carriers between cargoes
• Container terminal and general cargo quays — deck, hatch coaming and ballast tank readings on short-sea and feeder ships
• Cruise quays and the ría anchorage — tank, piping and scrubber readings, and launch-served work on waiting ships

Spanish maritime administration and the pressures on Vigo's fleet

Port state control in Vigo falls under the Paris MoU and is carried out by the Spanish maritime administration, the Dirección General de la Marina Mercante, through the Capitanía Marítima in the port. Inspectors target older ships and those with a poor record, and Vigo's mix of long-serving fishing tonnage and visiting merchant ships provides plenty of candidates. A superintendent who has taken thickness readings before arrival is less likely to be surprised by a structural deficiency raised during an inspection, and has time to plan repair work around the stay.

Obligations under EU law add pressure. Every ship that calls here also needs an Inventory of Hazardous Materials, as the EU recycling rules for ships demand, while the emissions trading scheme has reached shipping from 2024 and FuelEU Maritime from 2025. Fishing vessels are covered by their own fleet rules and safety regimes, and owners who intend to extend a vessel's life often seek independent thickness records before committing to major steel renewal. For merchant ships, the same readings support sale and purchase, charter on and off-hire checks and the planning of the next docking, whichever yard is chosen.

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

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

The nearest airport is Vigo-Peinador, with additional routes through Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña or Porto; technicians usually connect through Madrid or Lisbon from India. Spain is in the Schengen area, so each technician needs a visa obtained in India, applied for once the dock slot or call is confirmed and supported by an invitation naming the vessel. The ship's agent arranges port passes and launches, while each yard issues its own site access. Dock dates move, so flights are confirmed against the yard's latest 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.

Related