Ship Hull and Hold Gauging at Zonguldak and the Western Black Sea Coal Coast

Inspection services for ships at Zonguldak

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

Where gauging happens around Zonguldak

At the discharge berths, holds are gauged as they are emptied and swept. The gang cleaning the tank top and the grab driver both need the hold, so the superintendent and the master agree the sequence and we step in when a hold is released with the entry permit issued. Hatch covers and coamings can be measured at the same time from the deck. Because the berths are exposed, a swell that stops cargo work can also stop access by gangway, and the plan allows for lost hours.

Ships at anchor off Zonguldak are reached by launch arranged through the agent. The sea state here can change within hours, so we take the highest-priority items first: ballast tank plating in the topside and hopper tanks, deck plating around the hatch corners and the readings that decide a docking date. For ships moving on to a yard, we provide an organised set of readings by frame and strake that the yard can use for its steel estimate, rather than a raw list that has to be sorted on arrival.

• Zonguldak port coal berths — hold, tank-top and hatch cover gauging on bulk carriers as holds are released during discharge
• Çatalağzı power-station jetties — gauging on coal carriers during their call, subject to the terminal's safety and ISPS rules
• Terminals along the nearby coast — bulk and general cargo ships gauged during loading and discharge on one road-based mobilisation
• Open anchorage off the coast — deck and ballast tank readings on ships waiting for a berth, by launch when the sea allows
• Pre-docking steel scope — frames, bulkheads and plating organised by strake for a yard in the Marmara or elsewhere

Port state control and the energy trades of the Black Sea coast

Turkish ports are covered by both the Black Sea MoU and the Mediterranean MoU on port state control, and the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and the local harbour masters administer ship safety and port operations. Bulk carriers trading in coal and steel are a regular focus of inspection because hatch covers, coamings and hold structure deteriorate quickly in these trades. A deficiency recorded at a Black Sea port often prompts an owner to extend the gauging scope to adjacent plating before the ship is next inspected.

The Black Sea lies outside the emission control areas, so ships here follow the global fuel limit, though a ship sailing on to the Marmara enters the Mediterranean ECA. Coal imports for power generation are shaped by energy policy, and tonnage employed on these runs ranges widely in age. Ships that will later call at European Union ports need a valid Inventory of Hazardous Materials under the EU Ship Recycling Regulation, and those voyages fall under EU ETS. For managers, the practical result is that steel records taken at a coal call help justify docking decisions and charter negotiations later.

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

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

The team flies into Istanbul and continues by road to Zonguldak, a longer overland journey than for ports near the Marmara. Zonguldak also has a small regional airport whose services come and go, so we do not rely on it. Berth passes under ISPS, power-station jetty permits and anchorage launches are arranged through the ship's agent, with crew lists and certificates sent ahead. Indian passport holders need a Turkish visa, which we apply for once a call is probable and renew if the ship's schedule 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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