UWILD at King Abdullah Port
Survey credit earned without leaving the water
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Tell us the vessel, the port and the window. Scoped reply, usually the same working day.
Cleanship Marine runs full UWILD programmes — Underwater Inspection In Lieu of Drydocking — at King Abdullah Port, Makkah Province, from eligibility discussion through class liaison to the final report package.
UWILD lets a vessel satisfy a survey requirement that would otherwise mean a dry docking, at a fraction of the cost and with none of the off-hire. The requirements are exacting: the contractor must hold class approval, the vessel must be eligible, hull markings must let the surveyor locate features precisely, and the inspection has to be delivered live and documented. Shelter is on your side here — the vessel is stable and the dive is uninterrupted — but basin silt means the lighting and camera plan has to be agreed with the surveyor before the class attendance is booked, not improvised on the day.
What it gets you
- Drydocking deferred and the survey credit earned in the water
- Class liaison handled end to end rather than left with the superintendent
- Eligibility confirmed before cost is committed, not discovered afterwards
- A documented inspection record that stands up to class review
Working conditions at King Abdullah Port
King Abdullah Port is a modern privately operated terminal north of Jeddah, deep-water, well sheltered and run to high productivity — which means access is a commercial decision by the terminal as much as a port one, and it needs arranging in advance. Red Sea water here is warm and hypersaline with the fouling rate that implies. Alongside work runs year-round; summer heat is the constraint on anything enclosed.
- Where we work
- Container terminal berths · RoRo and bulk berths · Anchorage
- Vessels we see here
- Main-line and feeder container ships · Pure car and truck carriers · Bulk carriers
What we do at King Abdullah Port
- Eligibility review against the vessel's age, type, class notation and survey history before anything is booked
- Programme agreed with the class society and the surveyor attending at King Abdullah Port
- Hull, rudder, propeller, stern gear, sea chests and appendages inspected to the UWILD scope
- Live video, thickness measurement and clearance readings where the programme calls for them
- Diving permission cleared with King Abdullah Port and Mawani, with the vessel secured and machinery immobilised
- Complete report package submitted for the class file and the drydocking credit
Planning the window at King Abdullah Port
The northerly Red Sea wind governs the calendar at King Abdullah Port, strongest through the winter and spring. The Red Sea runs a persistent along-axis wind that builds a short chop at the anchorages while the berths stay workable, so the constraint here is almost always the anchorage rather than the season. Because the harbour is sheltered, work here normally runs alongside or at a protected anchorage and can proceed in parallel with cargo operations rather than competing with them for the berth window.
Work is taken at the container terminal berths, RoRo and bulk berths, anchorage, and which of those a vessel ends up at changes the dive plan more than the season does. Teams mobilise via Jeddah (JED), so give us the ETA as early as you have it — the travel is the flexible part, the approvals and the working window are not.
What we typically find at King Abdullah Port
Container tonnage on a fixed rotation shows the familiar pattern: light slime over most of the vertical sides, with the real accumulation in the flat bottom, the bilge keels and the niches where flow is slowest. Those are the areas that cost fuel and the ones a quick clean tends to skip.
Shelter is a mixed blessing for a hull. The same calm that makes the port easy to work in is still water, and still water grows fouling faster than an exposed berth does.
Standard scope of work
Included as standard on every UWILD attendance, wherever the vessel is. Anything outside it is quoted separately and flagged before mobilisation, never added afterwards.
- Eligibility and planning
- Vessel eligibility, survey scope and the society's specific requirements are established and agreed before mobilisation.
- Hull preparation
- Reference markings and cleaning of inspection areas so structure and features can be located and viewed unambiguously.
- Systematic inspection
- Shell plating, welds, rudder, propeller, sea chests, openings, anodes and appendages inspected to the agreed programme.
- Measurement and NDT
- Clearance measurement and underwater NDT carried out where the survey scope requires it.
- Documentation
- Video, stills, measurements and findings compiled into a report package suitable for submission to the classification society.
How we deliver it at King Abdullah Port
- 1
Scope and vessel details
Tell us the vessel, her particulars, the coating specification and the window at King Abdullah Port. We come back with a defined scope, a crew size and a duration we will stand behind. Where the conditions here will not support what has been asked for, we say so at this stage rather than after mobilisation.
- 2
Permits and approvals
Access at King Abdullah Port is the terminal operator's decision as much as King Abdullah Port and Mawani's, so both are in the approval chain from the start — a berth-side refusal discovered at the gangway costs the whole attendance. Diving permission, terminal approval and any environmental clearance for in-water work are handled by us, not left with the agent to chase.
- 3
Mobilisation to King Abdullah Port
Divers, compressors, brush carts and cameras mobilise via Jeddah (JED). Where a vessel is also calling at Jeddah, one mobilisation is normally sized to cover both.
- 4
Safety setup and the dive
The vessel is secured for diving — main engine, shaft and thrusters immobilised, sea suctions confirmed shut, permit agreed with the master. Teams work under surface supervision with continuous diver communications and video throughout.
- 5
Report and handover
A completion report covering UWILD is issued with before-and-after imagery, coating and anode condition and anything found that you should know about. The findings are discussed with the vessel rather than emailed and forgotten.
King Abdullah Port at a glance
- UN/LOCODE
- SAKAC
- Port type
- Private Port
- State
- Makkah Province
- Country
- Saudi Arabia
- Water body
- Red Sea
- Port authority
- King Abdullah Port and Mawani
- Main cargoes
- Containers and transhipment, RoRo and vehicles, Dry bulk, General cargo
- Crew mobilisation
- Jeddah (JED)
- Services here
- Hull Cleaning and Hold Cleaning
Frequently asked — UWILD Inspection at King Abdullah Port
Do you provide UWILD at King Abdullah Port?
Yes. Cleanship Marine works King Abdullah Port (SAKAC) in Makkah Province, Saudi Arabia, covering the container terminal berths, RoRo and bulk berths, anchorage. Teams mobilise via Jeddah (JED) with the full spread.
Can UWILD be done while the vessel works cargo at King Abdullah Port?
Yes, in most cases. The harbour is sheltered enough that divers work alongside while cargo operations continue, and neither holds the other up. The vessel stays on hire throughout, and there is no diversion and no dry dock. We scope against the conditions at King Abdullah Port and tell you honestly whether the window you have is enough.
Do you need a diving permit from King Abdullah Port and Mawani?
Yes, and we obtain it. Diving permission from King Abdullah Port and Mawani, terminal approval where the berth requires it, and any environmental clearance for in-water work are arranged as part of the job rather than left with the agent. The master's permit to work and the immobilisation of machinery are agreed on board before anyone enters the water.
What is underwater visibility like at King Abdullah Port?
Visibility at King Abdullah Port is moderate, and it drops further around active bulk handling and after heavy rain, and the northerly Red Sea wind sets the outer limits of the calendar. How the tide and sea state shape the dive plan is set out in full in the working-conditions section on this page.
Which vessels do you carry out UWILD on at King Abdullah Port?
Main-line and feeder container ships, Pure car and truck carriers, Bulk carriers — the traffic at King Abdullah Port runs to containers and transhipment, RoRo and vehicles, dry bulk, so those are the profiles we see most. The scope is sized to the vessel, not to a standard package.
How quickly can a team mobilise to King Abdullah Port?
Divers and equipment mobilise via Jeddah (JED). Give us the ETA and the window and we will confirm what is achievable rather than promise a date we cannot hold. Where the vessel also calls at Jeddah or Yanbu, one mobilisation is often sized to cover both.
What does UWILD at King Abdullah Port cost?
It depends on the vessel's dimensions and wetted area, the fouling state found, the coating specification and the working window available at King Abdullah Port. We would rather scope it properly and give you a specific figure than quote a headline rate that changes once the work starts. Send the details and the window at King Abdullah Port and you get a scoped price, usually the same working day.
UWILD at King Abdullah Port.
Tell us the vessel, her ETA at King Abdullah Port and the window. You get a scope, a crew size and an honest duration — usually the same working day.