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The Colombo Express, one of the largest container ships in the world, owned and operated by Hapag-Lloyd of Germany
The Colombo Express, one of the largest container ships in the world, owned and operated by Hapag-Lloyd of Germany
Cargo fleet in 2006
Cargo fleet in 2006

A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Colombo Express is the one of the largest Container ships in the world Hapag-Lloyd is a German transportation company comprising a cargo container Shipping line Hapag-Lloyd Container Line, and a cruise Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. A ship /ʃɪp/ is a large vessel that floats on water Ships are generally distinguished from Boats based on size Cargo (or freight) refers to goods or produce transported generally for Commercial gain by ship, aircraft, train, Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade. International trade is exchange of Capital, Goods, and Services across International borders or Territories. Cargo ships are usually specially designed for the task, often being equipped with cranes and other mechanisms to load and unload, and come in all sizes. A crane is a lifting machine equipped with a Winder, Wire ropes or Chains and sheaves that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to Today, they are almost always built of welded steel, and with some exceptions generally have a life expectancy of 25 to 30 years before being scrapped.

Contents

Types

Specialized types of cargo vessels include container ships and bulk carriers (technically tankers of all sizes are cargo ships, although they are routinely thought of as a separate category). Container ships are Cargo ships that carry all of their load in truck-size containers in a technique called Containerization. Definition There are various ways to define the term bulk carrier History The technology of oil transportation has evolved alongside the oil industry

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. The 1st millennium BC encompasses the Iron Age and sees the rise of successive empires The desire to operate trade routes over longer distances and at 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 resulted in most cargo ships being armed, sometimes quite heavily, as in the case of the Manila galleons and East Indiamen. Piracy is Robbery committed at sea or sometimes on shore without a commission from a sovereign Nation (as distinct from Privateering The Manila galleons or Manila-Acapulco galleons ( Galeones de Manila-Acapulco) were Spanish trading Ships that sailed once or twice An East Indiaman was a Ship operating under charter or licence to the Honourable East India Company.

Piracy

Piracy is still quite common in some waters, particularly around Asia, most notably in the Malacca Straits, a narrow channel between Indonesia and Singapore / Malaysia. Piracy is Robbery committed at sea or sometimes on shore without a commission from a sovereign Nation (as distinct from Privateering The Strait of Malacca is a narrow 805 km (500 mile stretch of water between Peninsular Malaysia (West Malaysia) and the Indonesian island of Sumatra In 2004, the governments of those three nations agreed to provide better protection for the ships passing through the Straits. Also piracy prone are the waters off Somalia and Nigeria, while smaller vessels are also in danger along parts of the South American coasts.

Definitions

While the definitions have become "cross-pollinated" over the years, "cargo" technically refers to the goods carried aboard the ship for hire, while "freight" refers to the compensation the ship or charterer receives for carrying the cargo.

Generally, the modern ocean shipping business is divided into two classes:

  1. Liner business: typically (but not exclusively) container vessels (wherein "general cargo" is carried in 20 or 40-foot "boxes"), operating as "common carriers", calling 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.
  2. 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. Charter Party (Lat charta partita a Legal paper or instrument divided i

Larger cargo ships are generally operated by shipping lines: companies that specialize in the handling of cargo in general. A shipping line is a business that operates Ships that it may or may not own Smaller vessels, such as coasters, are often owned by their operators. See also Merchant ship Coastal trading vessels, also known as coasters, are shallow-hulled Ships used for trade between locations on the same island

Vessel prefixes: Before the vessel's name will be found a category designation. Naval ships, for example, will have "USS" (United States Ship), "HMS" (Her/His Majesty's Ship), "HTMS" (His Thai Majesty's Ship). Merchant ships may have "RMS (Royal Mail Ship, usually a passenger liner), "MV" (Motor Vessel, (powered by Diesel). A diesel engine is an Internal combustion engine which operates using the Diesel cycle (named after Dr "SS" (Steam Ship, now seldom seen, powered by steam). A steam engine is a Heat engine that performs Mechanical work using Steam as its Working fluid. "TS", sometimes found in first position before a merchant ship's prefix, denotes that it has Twin Screws. (For further discussion, see Ship prefixes. A ship prefix is a combination of letters usually abbreviations used in front of the name of a civilian or naval Ship. )

Famous cargo ships would include the Liberty ships of World War II, partly based on a British design, the sections for which were prefabricated all over the USA and then assembled by shipbuilders in an average of 6 weeks with the record being just over 4 days. History and service In 1936 the American Merchant Marine Act was passed to subsidize the annual construction of 50 commercial merchant vessels to be used in wartime by World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Prefabrication is the practice of assembling components of a Structure in a Factory or other Manufacturing site and Transporting complete The United States of America —commonly referred to as the These ships allowed the Allies to replace sunken cargo vessels at a rate greater than the Kriegsmarine's U-boats could sink them, and contributed significantly to the war effort, the delivery of supplies, and eventual victory over the Axis powers. The Kriegsmarine (English "War navy" was the name of the German Navy between 1935 and 1945 during the Nazi regime superseding the U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word, itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot ( undersea boat) and refers The Axis powers also known as the Axis alliance Axis nations Axis countries or sometimes just the Axis were those Countries

Lake freighters built for the Great Lakes in North America differ in design from "salties" because of the difference in wave size and frequency in the lakes. Lake freighters, or Lakers, are Cargo vessels that ply the Great Lakes. The Laurentian Great Lakes are a chain of freshwater lakes located in eastern North America, on the Canada–United States border. A number of these boats are so large that they cannot leave the lakes because they do not fit into the locks on the Saint Lawrence Seaway. The St Lawrence Seaway is the common name for a system of Canals that permits ocean-going vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes

Sizes of cargo ships

Cargo ships are categorized partly by their capacity, partly by their weight, and partly by their dimensions (often with reference to the various canals and canal locks through which they can travel). Some common categories include:

See also

References

A merchant vessel is a Ship that transports Cargo and Passengers during peace time The British Merchant Navy, known simply as the Merchant Navy is the maritime register of the United Kingdom, and describes the seagoing commercial interests Overview The merchant marine is a civilian auxiliary of the U

Dictionary

cargo ship

-noun

  1. A ship that carries cargo.
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