What decides everything
A ship sails.An area closes.Everything else works around that.
On-board work during the port call, warehouses and welfare facilities inside restricted areas, and residential work in town. The first question is never whether we know how — it is whether we can be at the berth on Wednesday at six. This page answers that one first.
Current port-pass lead time: on requestEscort required depending on the area
- 3access regimes
- on requestpass lead time
- 0enclosed spaces
The real window
What fits inside a port call
A port call is counted in hours, but it starts days earlier: a port access pass cannot be obtained on the morning itself. The bar below is not a timeline — it is a sequence of checkpoints, each with the lead time it imposes upstream.
- 1. Pass applicationon request
- 2. Clearance and validationon request
- 3. Entry to the areaH−2
- 4. Mobilisation and equipmentH−1
- 5. Work on boardusable window
- 6. Joint inspectionH+…
- 7. Off before sailinghard stop
- on request
- on request
- H−2
- H−1
- usable window
- H+…
- hard stop
The solid part is the usable window. It is shorter than the port call itself, and that is the whole point of this panel.
Access calculator
Guidance based on current procedures. The lead time that counts is the one set by the port authority, not by us.
This tool gives no price and promises no duration of work: it gives an access lead time and a list of documents.
Read this before calling us
What we will not do
We do not enter enclosed spaces
Holds, bunker tanks, ballast tanks, cargo tanks, chain lockers, unventilated compartments. The atmosphere can be oxygen-depleted or gas-charged with no perceptible sign, and entry requires a permit, atmosphere testing and an attendant outside. It is the leading cause of multiple fatalities on board, and it is usually the improvised rescuers who die. We do not take this work, whatever the urgency and whoever the principal.
We do not work around access controls
Security clearance and a named port access pass are applied for several working days in advance. Nobody gets anybody in. If you have been told otherwise, you have been lied to, and you would answer for it as much as the contractor would.
We do not do spill response or asbestos removal
Both are licensed trades with their own approvals. We do not remove, drill, sand or sweep any material liable to contain asbestos, including material already broken. We report it and point you to a licensed firm.
We take no waste out of the port reception circuit
Ship-generated waste falls under a specific port reception regime. It is never mixed with another stream and it does not leave in our skips, however convenient that would be for everyone involved.
Anyone can stop the job
Any of our operatives can stop work if they judge the conditions are not met — atmosphere, access, lighting, condition of the substrate, contradictory instructions. Without having to justify it at the time, without arguing with the principal, and without consequence for them. We tell you, we explain afterwards, and we come back once it is sorted. A firm that does not grant its crews that right will end up sending them somewhere they should not have gone.
Six jobs
Reconstructed cases. No ship, shipowner, terminal or warehouse is identifiable, and no port-call detail — date, flag, cargo — is published.
- BORD
Cabin and alleyway, twenty-two-hour call
Death at sea. Port access pass obtained in advance, work in three consecutive shifts, joint inspection with the ship's safety officer, off the vessel two hours before sailing.
Usable window: 9 h - ENTR
Port warehouse, established infestation
After prolonged storage. Disinfection following a licensed pest-control treatment, worked aisle by aisle to keep the shed operating, full traceability handed to the facility manager.
6 aisles · 4 days - SOC
Changing rooms and canteen, industrial site
Full restoration after a long period of under-maintenance, scheduled on the weekly shutdown, written protocol handed to the HSE department.
2 consecutive shutdowns - ATL
Workshop after a contained fire
Soot decontamination, air treatment, operations resumed in one half of the building while work continued in the other.
11 days - UC
Cargo transport unit after damage
Cleaning, disinfection, controlled drying, strict separation of waste streams.
Dedicated area · 1 day - LOG
Flat in town
Standard work after a death. Mentioned because residential work exists too, and because it is not what this site is about.
3 days
Frequently asked
How far in advance must access be applied for?
Several working days, for a named pass and per operative. The exact lead time is set by the port authority and varies with the area and the season. In practice: an application filed the day before a port call will not clear. It is the number one reason a job fails, far ahead of any technical problem.
What can actually be done during an eighteen-hour port call?
Less than people expect. Out of eighteen hours alongside, you have to take out access, mobilisation, inspection and getting off: the usable window is around eight to ten hours. That is enough for a cabin and its alleyway, for a pantry, for a crew space. It is not enough for air treatment that needs ventilation time, nor for controlled drying. We say so beforehand, not halfway through.
Do you work in holds, bunker tanks and enclosed spaces?
No, never, under no conditions. Enclosed space entry requires a permit, atmosphere testing, self-contained breathing apparatus and an attendant outside. It is not our trade and we do not claim it. If your need concerns a hold or a tank, you need a firm specialised in enclosed space entry — we will point you to one.
How is a cabin dealt with after a death on board?
In principle as ashore, but inside a constrained window. Surface decontamination, treatment of porous materials — mattress, textiles, linings — odour removal and a final check. Personal effects are not touched: they are the master's responsibility under the company's procedures, which are precise. We work after that step is settled, never before.
What happens to the waste produced on board?
It follows the port reception facilities circuit for ship-generated waste, which is specific and traceable. It does not go into our skips and it joins no other stream. That is a real constraint on scheduling, because delivery depends on the facilities and their opening hours.
Who decides on board: the owner, the agent or the master?
The ship's agent orders and coordinates, the owner pays, and the master decides what happens on board. In practice a job is arranged with the agent and confirmed with the ship. If the master says no, it is no — including when everything else had been cleared.
How is a cargo transport unit cleaned after damage?
In a dedicated area, never on an operational berth. The damaged cargo is removed through the stream appropriate to its nature, then washing, disinfection and controlled drying before the unit goes back into service — a unit handed back damp will smell again within days. If the cargo fell under a particular regime, that changes the stream and we check it beforehand.
Do you also work for private clients?
Yes, and it is a regular part of what we do: cleaning after a death, insanitary conditions, hoarding, in Le Havre and across the conurbation. This site is mostly about port work because that is what nobody else documents. If you call us about a flat, you get the same team and the same discretion.
Contact
Give us the window.We will tell you what fits.
If the port access pass has not been applied for yet, say so: we will tell you the lead time and the documents. An application filed too late is the one thing we cannot make up for.
Contact
Contact
If the port access pass has not been applied for yet, say so: we will tell you the lead time and the documents. An application filed too late is the one thing we cannot make up for.
Depends on the area and the berth
Optional, and never published