Navigating the steel giants!

The oldest mode of transport is by sea.

Since ancient times, ships have always performed functions of great importance for countries, which were used to perform the Great Navigations responsible for discovering lands and also passengers. Spices, ore and also often were equipped with armaments in case there was a dispute between cargo ships and pirates on the high seas, the armament was also used to attack vessels from enemy countries.

Ships have gone through constant evolution throughout history, and among the changes we highlight the improvement in cargo capacity carried on ships, as well as the creation of specific vessels specialized in cargo transport.

In the globalized world we live in today, about 70% of goods are transported by sea transport. And to know more about these giants of the seas that have played such an important role for the economy and also for the society of a country or continent since antiquity, we have gathered in this article the main information about the types of cargo ships that are currently in circulation.

Types of Cargo Ship

The main types of cargo ship are: Bulk Carrier, Tanker, Oil Tanker, Gas Carrier, Ro-Ro, General Cargo, Container Carrier, Bulk Ship.

Bulk Carrier

Bulk carriers are designed to carry homogeneous cargoes, in other words, bulk. They have vertical loading/unloading carried out through large hatches. The first bulk carriers appeared on the Great Lakes of the United States and were used to transport iron ore. This ship transports bulk goods such as: Grain, Sugar, Ore, Coal, Fertilizers, etc. These ships, because they have the hydraulic hatches that cover the holds where the products are stored, do not need cranes or loading yaws.

Their structural characteristics can also be different depending on the goods they will transport, i.e., there is the Heavy Bulk Vessel (responsible for carrying ore, for example) and the Light Bulk Vessel (responsible for carrying grains and cereals). These ships load and unload in special terminals that receive this type of cargo.

Tanker Ship

This ship is specially designed to transport bulk liquids. The main types are oil tankers, chemical tankers, and also edible oils, vegetable oils, and methanol. Cargoes such as edible oils and vegetable oils require a high standard of cleaning to be carried out on the storage tanks.

Tankers can carry several hundred tons to hundreds of thousands of tons with a capacity of 5,000 to 40,000 tons, these vessels usually have a loading system specialized to the type of cargo carried. These vessels have state-of-the-art technology that includes heating or cooling devices and advanced cleaning systems that ensure the purity of the cargo while it is being loaded.

The largest tanker ever built was the oil tanker Knock Nevis, built in 1976. 458 meters long and capable of carrying 564,000 tons, this giant of the seas played an important economic role. Its anchor is preserved and kept in the Hong Kong Maritime Museum.

Oil Tanker

This tanker is used to transport hydrocarbons, crude oil and its derivatives, and has been manufactured since the late 19th century exclusively for this purpose. Oil Tankers can carry more than 400,000 tons of fuels and derivatives and are considered to be the largest ships in existence. Most of these vessels are unable to dock in conventional ports and need to use specific terminals built on the high seas for loading and unloading.

This ship has a floor of interconnected pipes that distribute the oil equally to ensure the balance of the vessel, this vessel also presents a wider feature, therefore less deep, which allows it to navigate in waters with low depths, besides having a double hull that prevents accidents such as oil leakage at sea that can destroy the local marine fauna.

Gas Vessel

This type of ship is suitable for the transportation of Liquefied Petroleum Gas. Its special feature is the round-shaped tanks above deck, a detail that draws a lot of attention to this type of vessel. These vessels transport LPG, LNG, Ethylene, Ammonia, Propylene, and other types of gases. Gas Vessels have four different types of tanks, they are: Independent Tanks: Responsible for bearing the weight of the cargo in an integral manner; Membrane Tanks: These have walls with small thickness supported by the ship's structure that can contract and expand freely; Integral Tanks: These are part of the ship's structure; Semi Membrane Tanks: These have rounded corners that avoid the contact of the tank with the rest of the ship's structure.

Ro-Ro Ship

These vessels gain prominence for their size and also for the cargoes carried by the means. The ships known as Ro-Ro have several types and sizes, so they are mostly classified as ro-ro passenger ship and ro-ro cargo ship. Even with the difference in cargo, the concept is the same, that is, cargo enters and leaves the vessel by its own means, usually under wheels such as cars, trucks, buses, trailers, and roll-on roll-off beds.

Roll on-Roll means roll in and roll out, this definition would be marked by a rolling cargo vessel, i.e., cargo embarks and disembarks from the vessel by rolling on its own wheels or on its own conveyors. These vessels can store between 2,000 and 4,000 vehicles measuring 600 meters long, 100 meters high, and 100 meters wide, as well as a large vertical parking lot, these have internal ramps that allow the floors to be adjusted according to the type of cargo.

General Cargo Ship

The Merchant Vessel is built to transport packaged cargoes or manufactured products that are not in bulk, for cargo handling are adopted the use of crane and loading sticks. These ships transport small lot loads such as sacks, boxes, boxed or wheeled vehicles, reels of newsprint, barrels, etc. Their structure has 4 or 5 holds that are known for being polyvalent. Some of these vessels may have refrigerated space to carry perishable cargo.

Container Ship

These ships are built to carry containers, and their holds are equipped with guides or cells for the purpose of receiving and storing the containers to speed up the loading and unloading operation, after the first layers are loaded and the hatches closed, the extra layers are loaded on top. Containers can hold anything from foodstuffs to electronics, electrical equipment, and automobiles. They are also used to transport bagged and palletized goods, liquids, and refrigerated cargo.

Container traffic at a port is often tracked by TEU equivalent units of transfer. The New HMM Algecira has earned the title of the largest ship in the world that has the capacity to carry more than 23,000 TEUs, this vessel was built by Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) and on its delivery at the Daewoo shipyard in South Korea was even attended by South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

This vessel belongs to The Alliance and has a draught of 15 meters and has been developed with technologies that allow the engines to emit less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Source: Naval Harbor Shipyard