Dry cargo ships

DRY CARGO SHIPS

Cargo Ships can be divided either into Dry Cargo Ships or Liquid Cargo Ships. In the following exposition we will explain a simple description of the Dry Cargo Ships and their characteristics.

Container Ships.
Container Ships are cargo ships that carry all of their Load in Truck-Side Containers, using a technique called Containerization. They form a common means ofcommercial intermodal freight transport.
The containers are preloaded with goods for export. In this way the goods can be locked and sealed before they are loaded onto the ship. With off shore based independent moving gantry cranes the loading and unloading work is extremely fast.
All the cargo holds contain guides for the containers, so that it is easy to slide them in place. Thecontainers are made so that the corners can be locked in place very easily. Because the containers are lowered in place precisely and the corners are matched for interlocking, it is important to keep the ship at even keel during the cargo work. For this purpose, container ships have remotely controlled ballast pumps and valves that can be controlled by deck officers.
Container ships do not carrytheir own loading gear, so loading and unloading can only be done at ports or special berths where giant traveling cranes are available. However, smaller container ships with capacities up to 2900 T.E.U are often equipped with their own cranes.
These are the most modern type of dry cargo carriers constructed to transport containers of standard dimensions. Container ships are designed sothat no space is wasted. their capacity is measured in T.E.U ( Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit), the number of Standard 20 foot containers measuring 20 x 8.5 x 8.5 feet ( 6 x 2.6 x 2.6 meters) a vessel can carry.
In line with the fast cargo handling work, container ships are usually built for speed, so that cargo can arrive at their destinations fast.

Bulk Carriers.
Bulk Carrier, BulkFreighter, or Bulker is a Merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo such as Grain, Coal, Ore, and Cement in its cargo holds. They are constructed with a single deck, top side tanks and hopper side tanks. They have longitudinal bulkheads, and as the bulk cargoes are usually loaded from a spout, they have no derricks.
Bulk carriers are the great work horses of theshipping world, carrying raw dry cargoes in huge holds, such as coal, iron ore, grain, sulphur, scrap metal. Currently there is a huge demand for these vessels, driven by the extraordinary expansion of the Chinese economy. Imports of iron ore into China have boosted the earnings of bulk carriers owners as freight rates have gone through the roof into uncharted territory.
Since the firstspecialized bulk carrier was constructed in 1852, the world trade has increased the demand for these ships causing them to grow in size and sophistication.
Today' s bulkers are specially designed to maximize capacity, safety, efficiency, and to be able to withstand the hard conditions of their everyday work. Moreover, some of these ships are equipped with conveyor belts or spouts which permit themto unload their own cargo. Some others depend on port facilities for unloading.
Unlike Containers ships, these vessels can be loaded without having to trim their cargo by means of sloping sides, therefore this helps unload the cargo easily by grabs or other systems.
Loading and unloading operations are difficult and dangerous, and can take up to 120 hours on larger ships.
The crewof a bulker typically consists of 20 to 30 people, though smaller ships can be handled by 8. The crew includes the Captain or Master, the Deck Department , which is responsible for safely receiving, discharging and caring for cargo during a voyage, theEngineering Department that is in charged of the operation and maintenance of the propulsion and other systems on board the vessel.
The...