Cargo ships carry manufactured goods, foods, coffee, textiles, metals, minerals, and edible oils across the world’s oceans or other large bodies of water. Modern cargo ships usually feature derricks (onboard loading cranes) to expedite loading and unloading. They have refrigerated containers for carrying meat, fish, fruit, and bulk liquids such as orange juice. Cargo ships may be designed to carry a single product, such as sea-going ore carriers, or they may have a general design that enables them to carry a variety of cargoes.
Cargo ships may follow regular shipping routes, or they may travel from port to port carrying any available cargoes. Cargo ships that follow established routes are called liners. They run along fixed routes and charge standard rates. Cargo vessels that move from port to port without following a fixed route are called tramps. Tramps carry whatever loads are available. The work of a tramp is facilitated by brokers at the maritime centers at London, England; New York; and Tokyo, Japan. These brokers match available ships with shippers and negotiate prices.
1. Container Ships
Unloading a Container Ship
A container ship is docked at a port in Spain where it waits to be unloaded. Modern-day cargo ships are usually container ships because they transport cargo efficiently. Freight is packed in containers, which are then loaded onto ships by crane. When a ship arrives in port, the containers are easily unloaded by cranes and transferred to trucks designed to transport them.
When the costs of shipping escalated rapidly in the 1950s, studies showed that labor constituted over 50 percent of the rising costs. Dockworkers spent five days or more unloading a large cargo ship and the same amount of time reloading it. Moreover, shipping companies paid port authorities large fees for each day they spent docked in port. American trucker Malcolm McLean offered a solution to this problem in the 1950s when he introduced the concept of containerized shipping. McLean proposed the use of standardized shipping containers to integrate truck, train, and ship transport.
In 1956 Sea-Land Service commenced containerized shipping operations between New York City and Houston, Texas. The shipment of cargo in prefabricated steel containers with standard measurements reduced labor costs and port fees significantly. The use of containerized shipping rapidly expanded, and today, ships, trains, and trucks are loaded and unloaded using huge mechanical cranes that unload and load a ship in just 24 hours.
2. Roll-On-Roll-Off and LASH Vessels
Roll-On-Roll-Off Cargo Ship Launch
United States military roll-on-roll-off cargo ship Pililaau was launched January 8, 2000, in New Orleans, Louisiana. After launch the 290-m (950-ft) steel-hulled ship began a series of tests to evaluate its seaworthiness. The completed vessel will transport military cargo.
Alternatives to the container system include roll-on-roll-off ships and LASH vessels. Roll-on-roll-off ships have stern and side openings through which dockworkers drive wheeled containers, cars, trucks, house trailers, and other cargo that can be rolled aboard. LASH stands for lighter aboard ships. In the LASH, or barge carrier, system, a giant crane lifts preloaded barges, or lighters, onto the vessel’s decks, eliminating the need for the ship to tie up in port at a dock.
Cargo ships may follow regular shipping routes, or they may travel from port to port carrying any available cargoes. Cargo ships that follow established routes are called liners. They run along fixed routes and charge standard rates. Cargo vessels that move from port to port without following a fixed route are called tramps. Tramps carry whatever loads are available. The work of a tramp is facilitated by brokers at the maritime centers at London, England; New York; and Tokyo, Japan. These brokers match available ships with shippers and negotiate prices.
1. Container Ships
Unloading a Container Ship
A container ship is docked at a port in Spain where it waits to be unloaded. Modern-day cargo ships are usually container ships because they transport cargo efficiently. Freight is packed in containers, which are then loaded onto ships by crane. When a ship arrives in port, the containers are easily unloaded by cranes and transferred to trucks designed to transport them.
When the costs of shipping escalated rapidly in the 1950s, studies showed that labor constituted over 50 percent of the rising costs. Dockworkers spent five days or more unloading a large cargo ship and the same amount of time reloading it. Moreover, shipping companies paid port authorities large fees for each day they spent docked in port. American trucker Malcolm McLean offered a solution to this problem in the 1950s when he introduced the concept of containerized shipping. McLean proposed the use of standardized shipping containers to integrate truck, train, and ship transport.
In 1956 Sea-Land Service commenced containerized shipping operations between New York City and Houston, Texas. The shipment of cargo in prefabricated steel containers with standard measurements reduced labor costs and port fees significantly. The use of containerized shipping rapidly expanded, and today, ships, trains, and trucks are loaded and unloaded using huge mechanical cranes that unload and load a ship in just 24 hours.
2. Roll-On-Roll-Off and LASH Vessels
Roll-On-Roll-Off Cargo Ship Launch
United States military roll-on-roll-off cargo ship Pililaau was launched January 8, 2000, in New Orleans, Louisiana. After launch the 290-m (950-ft) steel-hulled ship began a series of tests to evaluate its seaworthiness. The completed vessel will transport military cargo.
Alternatives to the container system include roll-on-roll-off ships and LASH vessels. Roll-on-roll-off ships have stern and side openings through which dockworkers drive wheeled containers, cars, trucks, house trailers, and other cargo that can be rolled aboard. LASH stands for lighter aboard ships. In the LASH, or barge carrier, system, a giant crane lifts preloaded barges, or lighters, onto the vessel’s decks, eliminating the need for the ship to tie up in port at a dock.
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