Importance of Ships
Importance of Ships
Importance of Ships
TOPICS:
• Ship tonnage
• Deadweight tonnage (DWT) /
• Plimsoll line/ importance of lead line
• Ship tonnage
• Gross and net tonnage
• Displacement
• OBO: WET N DRY CARGO
• Increasing size of container ships- concerns (31) benefits (33)
• Hatch size
• Hatchless vessel benefits
• Effect of port time on ship speed
• CONTAINERIZATION INCREASE SHIP SPEED AND REDUCE PORT TIME
Loaded displacement tonnage is the actual weight of the ship and cargo.
Light displacement tonnage is the actual weight of the ship. The difference
between the loaded displacement and the light displacement is the weight
that the ship can actually carry and is known as the deadweight tonnage.
Gross tonnage (GT) is, very simply, a measure of the total enclosed volume of
the ship in cubic metres multiplied by a constant. The net tonnage (NT) is the
total enclosed volume available for cargo in cubic metres multiplied by a
constant.
Before 1982 GT was known as GRT and NT as NRT. The R meant Registered,
as up to 1982, these tonnages were given when the ship was registered.
Gross tonnage
The depth of water was not a major issue until the 1960s. In 1950,
Rotterdam still had only 10 metres.
In 1970 there were only eight ports in Europe which could accept the
new class of VLCC tankers and there were no ports with sufficient depth
of water on the east coast of North America.
By 1975, following a period of energetic dredging there were 22 ports
in north-west Europe which could accept such ships. Dredging is a very
expensive activity and raised different questions facing port managers.
Percentage of ships versus draft
Growth of the average ship size (GT) showing the number of
ships with a draft greater than 13 metres
Questions facing port managers
— Will ships continue to get bigger? The Figure, showing average ship
size since 1850, does indicate a levelling off in average ship size after
1980. If the averages of the five largest tankers are considered for each
year, it can be seen tanker size peaked around 1975. If the same
exercise is considered for dry bulk carriers their size seems to have
peaked around 1985–89.
— In 2004 there were 462 container ships with drafts >13m, 1,558
tankers and 1,544 bulk carriers. The next Figure shows the increasing
size of container ships, and that they are still increasing.
— If so, should one dredge the old channel or develop a new terminal
in an area which enjoys deeper water?
Increasing size of container ships
Increasing size of container ships
Lloyd’s List (January 2001) used the term Ultra Large Container Ships (ULCS)
of ships of 9,000–10,000 TEU capacity.
Other proposed terms are: Suezmax container ship (12,000 TEU),
Malaccamax (18,000 TEU).
Lloyd’s List in January 2005 reported that Cosco had orders valued at $566mn
for four 10,000 TEU container ships (349m LOA, 45.6m breadth) due in
service in 2008.
In 2006 the Estelle Maersk had 170,794 GT, 158,000 DWT and could carry
12,500 TEU.
However, in 2007 a spokesperson for the Port of Los Angeles said that Los
Angeles would prefer two 6,000 box ships a week rather than one 8,000+
vessel, due to the strain the latter put on the inland distribution services.
Increasing size of container ships
As can be seen from the Figure that the number of feeder vessels and
their TEU capacity is quite small but so is the average length of their
round voyage compared with the post Panamax vessels which will be
used on the longer routes.
From the 3,000-box ship of 1972, container ship size did not increase
any further until 1982 when the 4,000-box ship was introduced. From
there another size plateau was sustained until the early 1990s when
the 6,500-box ship appeared.
R.G. McLellan: Growth in container size concerns
— One serious constraint on building a 6,000+ box vessel was the lack of an engine that could
generate the necessary 90,000 bhp capable of driving such a vessel at 24.5 knots on a single
screw. However, the development of the Sulzer 12RTA96C and the MAN B & W 12K98MC-C
reduced this problem.
— As ship’s beam increases, cranes must increase in size. This involves an increase in weight
and there comes a point when the terminal cannot take the extra load without considerable
civil engineering expense.
— As ship draft increases, depth of water in ports becomes a problem. Virtually all major
ports have 10 metres but few can offer over 15 metres.
— For large ships to maintain the same schedules as their smaller brethren, cargo-handling
speeds will have to be increased. From this it follows that the terminal area will need to be
increased and the inland distribution facilities improved.
— Increasing the size of ships may well also increase the peaking factor which can be a
serious cost problem for a centre hub port.
— Large ships + expensive port facilities means more claims from pilot impact problems
Constraints on increasing ship size
With ship B, however, the cargo can be dropped more or less into its required
place. This fact is of course quite obvious but it was not possible to build ships
with large openings until notch-toughened steel was developed during the
Second World War.
In the last century during the era of the sailing ship, the crew loaded
and discharged the cargo.
With the advent of steamships, the development of a workforce of
professional dockers and their unions, the port labour took over full
responsibility for the cargo transfer, but under the close supervision of
the ship’s officers.
One of the effects of containerization has been to reduce port time.
This reduction combined with smaller ships’ crews who are changed
frequently, has meant that terminal staff take over many of the
supervisory tasks of the ships’ officers.
Major Types of Ships
Container cargo ship
Container ships are designed to carry large containers. Shipping containers are
of the size of a truck with 20 feet by 8 feet to 10 feet by 8 feet in dimension.
These containers are designed in a way that; they can be easily transported
through trains, trucks and ships without any problem. These ships are on liner
trade delivering goods from one place to another across the globe.
A typical container ship contains around 10-15 thousand containers in its single
or double deck hull. They are used to transport world’s manufactured goods;
such as processed food, electronics, machinery, spares, furniture, and tools.
Container cargo ship
A container ship is a ship that carry all of its cargo in standardized truck-
size containers.
A container is either 20 or 40 feet long, 8 feet wide and 8 or 8,6 feet high. To
increase revenues, “high cube” containers with heights of 9’6″ have come
into common use.
Fortunately, most container ships can carry containers of mixed heights
without significant difficulty. Containerships generally carry a mix of 20′ and
40′ containers, and some are fitted for deck stowage of 45′ and 48′ lengths.
Over the years goods transported in containers has increased and is
increasing due to the flexibility and easy of cargo handling at port.
One example is that containers are taking over the Reefer market. Today,
approximately 90% of non-bulk cargo worldwide is transported by
container. Containers ships is also many time referred to as “Box-Ships”
Container ship size and classes
Container ships have constantly been growing in size and today they are seriously
competing with the ULCC Tankers of being the largest ships in the world. It is the
economy-of-scale that is driving the growth in ship size.
Unlike the Bulker and Tanker segment Container ships are defined by its capacity in
number of containers they able to carry. The term used is TEU and is
an abbreviation from Twenty Feet Equivalent Units.
One of the first container ships, the US Ideal X, owned by Malcom Mclean, had a
capacity of 58 containers in on its first voyage in April 1956. The Emma Maersk
(2007), officially have a capacity of 11 000 TEUs and is 357 meters long & 56 m wide.
Today the industry is looking into construction even larger ships, 18 000+ TEUs.
• Panamax: ≈4 500 – 5 000 TEU
• Post Panamax: ≈5 000 – 10 000 TEU
• Suezmax: ≈10 000 -15 500 TEU
• Post Suezmax: ≈15 500 TEU<
Container cargo ship
Bulk carrier
The power house of world’s economic engine; these ships carry the
essential raw materials for various industries from Agro based to heavy
manufacturing.
These ships are also called as bulkees or frights and are easily identified
by the large hydraulic hatches covering its holds. They are designed to
carry unpacked raw materials such as wood, raw grain, ore and coal.
In these ships; cargo is poured down directly into the holds according to
the charter plan. These ships are around 800-1200 feet long and
account for 15-18% of the total merchant fleet.
Bulk carrier
Most vehicles that you use on a daily basis are transported across the
globe using a special type of ships known as Ro-Ro or car carriers (or
Pure Car Pure Truck, PCPT carriers).
Basically they are like a big floating garage (Yes ! like that in your
house); where newly made cars are parked, latched and then shipped.
Generally these ships are 500-700 feet long with high free board. These
ships are used to transport vehicles like trucks, tractors and cars all over
the globe in a safe efficient way.
Ro-Ro Vessels
Gas Tankers
These are the modified form of tankers well suited for transporting gases such as LPG, Natural gas,
LNG, Etheline etc. They are further classified into fully pressurized, semi refrigerated, fully
refrigerated, ethylene and LPG, LNG ships.
Chemical Tankers
They are another type of modified tankers well suited for carrying hazardous chemicals; such as
acid, base, alcohols and other reactive chemicals.
Passenger Ships
Half a century ago, passenger ships were used for going one place to another
by many people across the world. But today passengers ships are mostly used
as a cruise ships for pleasure voyage. They provide luxury voyage with beautiful
sight seeing. They are like a five start hotel floating on the sea which focus on
the user experience rather than reaching destination on or before time.