Shipping – The Merchant Ships

Shipping is chiefly used for carrying people and non perishable things, generally mentioned as Cargo.

Although Sea Travelers have drastically reduced because of increase in commercial aviation but still ships are very effective for short journeys and luxury cruises and shipping is still the prime transporter of fright in the whole world. Modern shipping is extremely efficient solution for moving great amount of non- perishable goods. Every year billions of tons of cargo gets delivered by sea. Shipping is considerably less costly than air transport. Shipping is commonly undertaken for business, leisure or military purposes. When a cargo is carried by more than one manner, the transport is known as intermodal or co-modal.

Ships are used for a variety of bulk unprocessed materials ranging from coal, iron, petroleum products, bauxite, chemicals, cereals and so onwards. General cargos cover goods which are packed to some level in boxes, barrels, and so forth. Since 1960s containerization (a system of intermodal freight transport using standard ISO containers also known as shipping containers or isotainers that can be loaded and sealed intact onto container ships, plans and trucks.) has revolutionized shipping transport.

Modern merchant ships can be placed in one of a few categories, for example

Container ships are cargo ships which carry the entire load in truck size containers through containerization. Container ships are casually known as box boats. Most container ships are propelled by diesel engines.

Cruise Ships are passengers ships used for pleasant journeys. Ship’s amenities are the vital parts of the experience. This luxury Cruising has become a major part of the tourism industry with millions of passengers adding every year.

Ferries are usually a boat or ship used for ferrying or carrying passengers and even their vehicles. Ferries are also used for freight transport and even railroad cars.

Bulk carriers are cargo ships which are used to carry bulk items such as ore or food (rice grain etc.) and similar cargo. It can be recognized by the huge box-like hatches on its deck, designed to slide outboard for loading. A bulk carrier could be either dry or wet.

Tankers are cargo ships for the transport of fluids, such as petroleum products, crude oil,

LPG, natural gas, chemicals and even vegetable oils & wine.

Roll on/off roll off ships are cargo ships which are designed to carry automobiles, trailers and railway carriages. RO/RO) vessels have built-in ramps which allow the cargo to be efficiently “rolled on” and “rolled off” the vessel when in port.

Costal Trading vessels are used for trade between locations on the same island or continent.

Reefer ships are cargo ships which are used to carry perishable commodities which require which temperature controlled shipping mostly dairy products, vegetables,

Fish, meat, fruits and other foodstuffs.

Cable layer is a deep-sea vessel used to lay down underwater cables for telecommunications, electricity, and such works.

Apart from the above stated types of merchant ships, there are many other ships which do have their own noteworthy importance.

Manan Kumar