Condition Survey

A condition survey answers one question: what is the state of this vessel right now?

It sounds simple. It is not. The answer depends entirely on who is doing the asking, what they intend to use the information for, and whether the person conducting the survey knows how to find what the vessel is hiding.

Vessels hide things. Not through deception. Through age, through deferred maintenance, through the way systems interact in ways that only reveal themselves under load or in specific conditions. A condition survey conducted by someone who has spent a career at sea on commercial vessels finds different things than one conducted by someone who learned surveying from a textbook.

Who orders a condition survey

Owners who need a current baseline. Banks and lenders reviewing their security. Insurers assessing risk before or after a policy period. Flag state or port state authorities requiring an independent assessment. Managers taking over a vessel from a previous operator who want to know exactly what they have inherited.

In each case, the requirement is the same: an independent, documented picture of the vessel’s condition that was not produced by the owner, the operator, or anyone with a financial interest in the outcome.

That independence is not just procedural. It is what makes the report useful. A condition survey produced by someone connected to the owner or the vessel’s commercial operation is a report that every reader will discount. The value of the document is the credibility of the person who signed it.

The Atlantic factor

Vessels operating in the Atlantic corridor age differently from vessels that spend their lives in sheltered or semi-enclosed waters.

The Atlantic is not forgiving. The sustained swell off the Portuguese coast, the exposure on passage from the Canaries to the Azores, the weather windows that close faster than the routing software predicted. A vessel that has been working this corridor for ten years will show it in specific places: the forward structure, the hatch coaming seals, the windlass brake bands, the deck plating around the forward mooring stations. Fatigue accumulates at points of repeated dynamic load.

A condition survey on an Atlantic-operated vessel needs to be read against that context. I know what that exposure produces. I have worked on vessels that experienced it. The inspection starts before I board: I look at how the vessel is sitting, what the deck looks like from the quay, what the waterline tells me about trim and loading history. The survey itself confirms or corrects what the first impression suggested.

What a condition survey covers

The scope is comprehensive. Every major system gets inspected and documented. There are no selective areas, no courtesy omissions because an owner is watching, no conclusions shaped by what a bank wants to hear.

• Hull. External condition above and below the waterline. Plating thickness assessment where indicated. Condition of welds, doublers, and any previous repair areas. Sacrificial anode status and coverage.
• Structural. Framing, floors, brackets, and internal structural members where accessible. Tank top condition. Any evidence of deformation or fatigue cracking.
• Propulsion. Main engine condition assessment, running trials where possible. Gearbox, shafting, propeller, stern gear, stern tube seal condition.
• Auxiliary systems. Generators, compressors, hydraulics, pumping systems. Electrical switchboard, battery banks, wiring condition. HVAC and refrigeration where fitted.
• Deck machinery and equipment. Windlass, winches, derricks or cranes, mooring equipment. Wire and chain condition. Safe working load certificates.
• Accommodation and safety. Accommodation condition and habitability. Firefighting systems: fixed CO2 or foam, portable extinguishers, detection and alarm systems. Lifesaving appliances: liferafts, lifeboats where fitted, EPIRBs, SARTs, immersion suits.
• Navigation and communications. Bridge equipment condition. GMDSS requirements where applicable. AIS, ECDIS, radar.
• Documentation. Certificates and their expiry dates. Class survey status, open conditions, deferred items. Flag state documentation currency.

What you receive

A written report delivered within 48 hours of the inspection. It is structured by system, with photographs, and a findings summary that distinguishes between items requiring immediate attention and items that form part of planned maintenance.

The report does not hedge. If something requires attention, the report says so and says why. If a vessel is in good condition, the report says that too, with the evidence to support it. Whoever commissioned the survey gets the same document regardless of what they were hoping to hear.

For owners, this gives you a defensible current baseline. If you are facing a port state inspection, an insurer’s query, or a bank review, you have an independent document that answers the question before it is formally asked.

For lenders and insurers, it gives you a current picture of your security or your risk, produced by someone who has no interest in the answer being any particular thing.

Timing and access

I am based in Porto and work across the Portuguese coast and Atlantic islands. For urgent requirements, I can generally attend within 24 to 48 hours depending on vessel location and berth availability.

For the survey to be useful, I need unobstructed access. That means the vessel should be alongside or at anchor, not under cargo operations. The machinery should be available to be run. The accommodation and bilges should be accessible. If there are constraints, discuss them with me in advance and we will work out what can be accommodated.

Send me the vessel name, type, and location. I will confirm what the survey would cover and when I can attend.