Cargo ships and its operational use
Cargo ships or container ships are one of the world’s largest commercial vessels one can see plying on the ocean. Each year they handle bulk of international trade as viewed from vessel database. The process is called containerization through which cargo ships have to carry their entire load in intermodal containers. Technically cargo vessels include container ships and bulk carriers. Crude Oil tankers are also a type of cargo ship but they are considered as a separate category altogether. In fact in the earlier years tankers were converted to container ships.
Cargo ships today:
In today’s scenario 90% non bulk carriers are transported by modern container ships that can carry up to 15,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units). 26% of all containers originate from China as per ship register.
Containerization has revolutionized the shipping industry. In Fact the economists did not expect that containerization would make good imports an easy and cheaper affair. The goods producers and trader have shown immense interest in containerization. The reason of it is that ISO standard containers have been undergoing modifications in other freight-moving standards. Since the cargo security has improved and become less vulnerable because of rare viewed by public and therefore stolen, the shipping industry has been doing well in the globe.
Biggest Container ships based on TEU:
- Emma Maersk from Denmark
- MSC Danit from Panama
- CMA CGM Thalassa fro Cyprus
- MSC Beatrice from Panama
- Gudrun Maersk from Denmark
- Axel Maersk from Denmark
- NYK Vega from Panama
- CLEMENTINE MAERSK from Denmark
- COSCO Guangzhou from Greece
Risk & Remedies :
Transit of Containers with 5 to 6 million units is always risky affair. Even loading and unloading also carry enough danger. It has been reported that every year container ships looses 10,000 containers at sea. It requires massive organization and coordination to insure that containers are not lost, damaged, stolen or misrouted by any way. Some times container ships go overboard on the open sea during storms and cause environment threat called Marine Debris, by dropping containers. In recent years there have been increased concerns that containers might be used to transport terrorists or terrorist materials into a country undetected.
To prevent incorrect storage of container ships new loading instruments have been devised. Such as MACS3.Net loading computer system applied with BELCO, SEALASH and DAGO modules. Ship tracking has been in place.
Future of Cargo ships:
It has even been predicted that, at some point, container ships will be controlled in size only by the depth of the Straits of Malacca—one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. It links the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.
To reduce cost, container ships are enhancing sizes. The largest theoretical ship measuring 14,000 TEU is the Suezmax that is capable of passing through Suez Canal. Such vessel would displace 137,000 metric tons deadweight (DWT).After Suezmax there is Malaccamax ship of 18000 TEU displacing 300,000 DWT. This is still in design stage. Whatsoever the constraints on flexibility of service routes are getting faded away and engineering design has been improving with time.
