Cargo ship
A cargo ship or freighter is a
Definitions
Admiralty law |
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History |
Features |
Contract of carriage/Charterparty |
Parties |
Judiciaries |
International conventions |
International organizations |
The words cargo and freight have become interchangeable in casual usage. Technically, "cargo" refers to the goods carried aboard the ship for hire, while "freight" refers to the act of carrying of such cargo, but the terms have been used interchangeably for centuries.
Generally, the modern ocean shipping business is divided into two classes:
- Liner business: typically (but not exclusively) container vessels (wherein "general cargo" is carried in 20- or 40-foot containers), operating as "common carriers", calling at a regularly published schedule of ports. A common carrier refers to a regulated service where any member of the public may book cargo for shipment, according to long-established and internationally agreed rules.
- Tramp-tanker business: generally this is private business arranged between the shipper and receiver and facilitated by the vessel owners or operators, who offer their vessels for hire to carry bulk (dry or liquid) or break bulk (cargoes with individually handled pieces) to any suitable port(s) in the world, according to a specifically drawn contract, called a charter party.
Larger cargo ships are generally operated by shipping lines: companies that specialize in the handling of cargo in general. Smaller vessels, such as coasters, are often owned by their operators.
Types
Cargo ships/freighters can be divided into eight groups, according to the type of cargo they carry. These groups are:
- Feeder ship
- General cargo vessels
- Container ships
- Tankers
- Dry bulk carriers
- Multi-purpose vessels
- Reefer ships
- Roll-on/roll-off vessels.
Rough synopses of cargo ship types
- General cargo vessels carry packaged items like chemicals, foods, furniture, machinery, motor- and military vehicles, footwear, garments, etc.
- Container ships (sometimes spelled containerships) are cargo ships that carry all of their load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. They are a common means of commercial intermodal freight transport and now carry most seagoing non-bulk cargo. Container ship capacity is measured in twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU).
- Tankers carry petroleum products or other liquid cargo.
- Dry bulk carriers carry coal, grain, ore and other similar products in loose form.
- Multi-purpose vessels, as the name suggests, carry different classes of cargo – e.g. liquid and general cargo – at the same time.
- A Reefer, foodstuffs.
- Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels.
- Timber (Lumber) carriers that transport lumber, logs and related wood products.[2]
Specialized cargo ship types
Specialized types of cargo vessels include
Size categories
Cargo ships are categorized partly by cargo or shipping capacity (tonnage), partly by weight (deadweight tonnage DWT), and partly by dimensions. Maximum dimensions such as length and width (beam) limit the canal locks a ship can fit in, water depth (draft) is a limitation for canals, shallow straits or harbors and height is a limitation in order to pass under bridges. Common categories include:
- Dry cargo
- Small Handy size, carriers of 20,000–28,000 DWT
- St Lawrence Seaway. These are vessels less than 740 feet (225.6 m) in length, 78 feet (23.8 m) wide, and have a draft less than 26.51 feet (8.08 m) and a height above the waterline no more than 35.5 metres (116 ft).
- Handy size, carriers of 28,000–40,000 DWT
- Handymax, carriers of 40,000–50,000 DWT
- Panamax, the largest size that can traverse the original locks of the Panama Canal, a 294.13 m (965.0 ft) length, a 32.2 m (106 ft) width, and a 12.04 m (39.5 ft) draft as well as a height limit of 57.91 m (190.0 ft). Limited to 52,000 DWT loaded, 80,000 DWT empty.
- Neopanamax, upgraded Panama locks with 366 m (1,201 ft) length, 55 m (180 ft) beam, 18 m (59 ft) draft, 120,000 DWT[3]
- Capesize, vessels larger than Suezmax and Neopanamax, and must traverse Cape Agulhas and Cape Horn to travel between oceans, dimension: about 170,000 DWT, 290 m long, 45 m beam (wide), 18m draught (under water depth).[4]
- Chinamax, carriers of 380,000–400,000 DWT up to 24 m (79 ft) draft, 65 m (213 ft) beam and 360 m (1,180 ft) length; these dimensions are limited by port infrastructure in China
- Great Belt Fixed Link). The length can be around 240 m and the width around 42 m. This gives a weight of around 100,000 metric ton.
- Wet cargo
- Aframax, oil tankers between 75,000 and 115,000 DWT. This is the largest size defined by the average freight rate assessment (AFRA) scheme.
- Q-Max, liquefied natural gas carrier for Qatar exports. A ship of Q-Max size is 345 m (1,132 ft) long and measures 53.8 m (177 ft) wide and 34.7 m (114 ft) high, with a shallow draft of approximately 12 m (39 ft).[5][6]
- Suezmax, typically ships of about 160,000 DWT, maximum dimensions are a beam of 77.5 m (254 ft), a draft of 20.1 m (66 ft) as well as a height limit of 68 m (223 ft) can traverse the Suez Canal
- supertankers between 150,000 and 320,000 DWT.
- Malaccamax, ships with a draft less than 20.5 m (67.3 ft) that can traverse the Strait of Malacca, typically 300,000 DWT.
- ULCC (Ultra Large Crude Carrier), enormous supertankers between 320,000 and 550,000 DWT
The TI-class supertanker is an Ultra Large Crude Carrier, with a draft that is deeper than Suezmax, Malaccamax and Neopanamax. This causes Atlantic/Pacific routes to be very long, such as the long voyages south of Cape of Good Hope or south of Cape Horn to transit between Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
History
The earliest records of waterborne activity mention the carriage of items for trade; the evidence of history and archaeology shows the practice to be widespread by the beginning of the 1st millennium BC, and as early as the 14th and 15th centuries BC small Mediterranean cargo ships like those of the 50 foot long (15–16 metre) Uluburun ship were carrying 20 tons of exotic cargo; 11 tons of raw copper, jars, glass, ivory, gold, spices, and treasures from Canaan, Greece, Egypt, and Africa. The desire to operate trade routes over longer distances, and throughout more seasons of the year, motivated improvements in ship design during the Middle Ages.
Before the middle of the 19th century, the incidence of
Piracy
Vessel prefixes
A category designation appears before the vessel's name. A few examples of prefixes for naval ships are "USS" (United States Ship), "HMS" (Her/His Majesty’s Ship), "HMCS" (Her/His Majesty's Canadian Ship) and "HTMS" (His Thai Majesty's Ship), while a few examples for prefixes for merchant ships are "RMS" (Royal Mail Ship, usually a passenger liner), "MV" (Motor Vessel, powered by diesel), "MT" (Motor Tanker, powered vessel carrying liquids only) "FV" Fishing Vessel and "SS" (Screw Steamer, driven by propellers or screws, often understood to stand for Steamship). "TS", sometimes found in first position before a merchant ship's prefix, denotes that it is a Turbine Steamer.
Famous cargo ships
Famous cargo ships include the 2,710
Pollution
Due to its low cost, most large cargo vessels are powered by
See also
- Classification of European Inland Waterways—standards determining vessel sizes on rivers and canals of Europe
- MARPOL 73/78—related to pollution: "Amended Regulation 14 concerns mandatory fuel oil change over procedures for vessels entering or leaving SECA areas and FO sulphur limits."
- Merchant Navy (United Kingdom)
- Merchant vessel
- Ship transport
- United States Merchant Marine
References
Citations
- ^ "Article: from publication on types of Reefer Ships by Capt. Pawanexh Kohli" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 26, 2009.
- ^ "Understanding Lumber Carrier Vessels". Marine Insight. Retrieved February 28, 2024.
- ^ "The New Panamax; 13,200-TEU Containership, 120,000 dwt Bulk Carrier". Shipping Research and Finance. September 12, 2012.
- ^ "Types of vessel sizes and Bulk Carriers - A One Maritime".
- ^ Cho Jae-eun (July 9, 2008). "Korea launches new tankers. Qatar-bound Mozah is the biggest LNG carrier ever built". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved August 2, 2008.
- ^ Curt, Bob (March 29, 2004). Marine Transportation of LNG (PDF). Intertanko Conference. Maritime Administration. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 22, 2011. Retrieved July 30, 2011.
- ^ "Documentaries - Pirates - Part Two". BBC World Service.
- ^ "Pirates, Warlords and Rogue Fishing Vessels in Somalia's Unruly Seas".
- ^ MARAD, Victory Ship, U.S. Maritime Commission design type VC2-S-AP2
- ^ "Canada Parks History and culture". Archived from the original on July 29, 2019. Retrieved August 3, 2019.
- ^ "British Order Sixty 10,000 Dwt. Cargo Steamers". Pacific Marine Review. Consolidated 1941 issues (January 1941). Pacific American Steamship Association/Shipowners' Association of the Pacific Coast: 42–43. 1941. Retrieved August 12, 2014.
- ISBN 1-85044-275-4.
- ^ Ng, Greg (March 26, 2024). "'Key Bridge is gone': Ship strike destroys bridge, state of emergency declared". WBAL. Archived from the original on March 26, 2024. Retrieved March 26, 2024.
- ^ "6 workers presumed dead after cargo ship crash levels Baltimore bridge". NBC News. March 27, 2024. Retrieved March 27, 2024.Archived 26 March 2024 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Vidal, John (April 9, 2009), "Health risks of shipping pollution have been 'underestimated'", The Guardian, retrieved June 11, 2012
- article on Cold ironing
- ^ Global Trade and Fuels Assessment— Additional ECA Modeling Scenarios (PDF), United States Environmental Protection Agency, May 2009, EPA-420-R-09-009, archived from the original (PDF) on August 1, 2013, retrieved June 11, 2012
- ^ "MGO Cooler". heinenhopman.com. September 12, 2016.
- ^ Air Pollution from Ships (PDF), November 2011, archived from the original (PDF) on July 28, 2013, retrieved June 11, 2012
- ^ "EU launches attempt to deliver shipping emissions trading scheme". www.businessgreen.com. January 24, 2012.
General references
- Greenway, Ambrose (2009). Cargo Liners: An Illustrated History. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 9781848320062.