Marine structure surveys at Stranraer are carried out by NDTScan, the Oxford based non-destructive testing company that works the UK coast with its own survey boat. The port of Stranraer appears in the Department for Transport's freight statistics as a minor port, so commercial cargo still crosses its quays. Behind that traffic is a stock of steel piles, jetty steelwork, concrete quays and sea defences that lose section every year, and NDTScan's work is to measure how much and to say plainly what it means.
The survey at Stranraer is planned around the tide. Steel is measured from the survey boat at the right state of water and from the foreshore at low water; concrete is scanned and tested from the deck and the face; the drone covers the superstructure and the ROV covers what never dries. Readings are located on a plan of the structure, and thinned or deteriorated zones are shown as shapes so the engineer sees where the problem is rather than reading a table.
The value of the work is in the interpretation. Ultrasonic readings on corroded steel need judgment: a probe on a pitted surface can read the pit or the plate, and NDTScan's reports say which. Concrete readings need the same care, and every Stranraer report states what was found, what was not found and how confident each reading is, so the harbour engineer can design a repair, set a reinspection interval or defend a decision to an insurer.
NDTScan's advice to owners at Stranraer is the same as on land: measure before you decide. A jetty with thickness data on a drawing can be managed, strengthened or replaced on evidence. One that has only been looked at from the deck will be closed or rebuilt on fear. The survey is the smallest cost in the chain, and the one that sets the size of every cost after it.
Scan before you repair. That is the standing advice for every Stranraer client, and the reason NDTScan reports what the concrete contains before anyone specifies what to do about it.
Services at Stranraer
- Ultrasonic Thickness Testing Remaining wall thickness and corrosion mapping on steel piles, sheet piles, jetty beams, dolphins, lock gates, pontoons and hulls at Stranraer, measured on a repeatable grid from the boat, the deck or the foreshore.
- Concrete Condition Surveys Reinforcement and cover mapping by ground penetrating radar, carbonation, chloride and strength testing, and unit by unit condition recording on quay walls, sea walls, breakwaters, pier decks and slipways.
- Drone and ROV Inspection Drone survey of decks, fenders, ladders and superstructure above the waterline, and inspection-class ROV coverage of the piles and walls that stay submerged, all located on one plan of the Stranraer structure.
Marine Work at Stranraer
Typical Stranraer instructions: ultrasonic thickness surveys of sheet pile quays and tubular jetty piles; corrosion mapping of lock gates and dolphins; condition surveys of concrete sea walls, breakwater crowns and promenades; reinforcement mapping and strength testing before repair; drone inspection of deck and superstructure; ROV inspection of submerged piles; and independent reports for insurers after storm damage or vessel impact.
NDTScan also surveys marine structures at The Forth, Glensanda, Sullom Voe, Aberdeen, Cairnryan and The Clyde and every other port and harbour in Scotland. The service is described in full on the marine surveys page.
About NDTScan
NDTScan is a specialist non-destructive testing company based in Oxford and led by Neil Smuts. Its marine work brings together ultrasonic thickness testing and corrosion mapping of steel, concrete scanning and condition surveys, drone inspection and ROV inspection, delivered from its own survey boat or from land. NDTScan is a Level 4 UKCSS Operator, the first in the UK to achieve that certification, and it attends Stranraer and the whole of the UK coast from its Oxford base.