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7
CATEGORY
SIZE RANGE
(dwt)
USEAGE
HANDYSIZE
10 -
39,999
Carry widest range of cargos in
Dry Bulk fleet. Cargo-handling
gear gives them access to ports
without their own land-based
cargo-handling equipment and
those which cannot receive
larger ships/lack their own gear.
HANDYMAX /
SUPRAMAX /
ULTRAMAX
40-
64,999
Handymax
size
(40,000-49,999 dwt)
Supramax size
(50,000-59,999 dwt)
Ultramax
size
(60,000-64,999 dwt)
Versatile and hardworking, they
are also geared with cranes for
ease of cargo movement. They
carry a range of cargo types,
including iron ore, but are largely
responsible for transporting
grains and minor bulks,e.g.
bauxite, fertilizers, cement,
forest products and steel.
PANAMAX
65-
84,999
Able to transit the Panama
Canal. Mainly carry coal and
grain cargos, although they
also participate in a number of
other trades (including iron ore,
bauxite and fertilizers)
11
.
Size limits the number of ports
they can access.
CAPESIZE
120-
219,999
Almost exclusively deployed
on the iron ore and coal trades,
which benefit most from their
large capacity.
11
Size limits the number of ports
they can access.
VLOC
(VERY LARGE
ORE CARRIERS)
220,000+
Comparatively new to the sector,
built to exploit economies of
scale on long-haul iron ore
routes.
9
Size limits the number of ports
they can access.
INTRODUCTION
Shipping and global trade are very
much interlinked, with a co-dependent
relationship essential to global
development.
Indeed, the modern shipping industry
has enabled and benefited from
globalisation and world population
growth since the second half of the
20th century. At this time demand
for goods and commodities began to
rise significantly as nations’ economic
capabilities expanded with increasing
industrialisation, liberalisation,
aspirations, and free trade. The shipping
industry grew with these trends, using
technological advances to increase
speed and efficiency and in the four
decades to 2008, total seaborne trade
estimates quadrupled, from just over
8 thousand billion tonne-miles in 1968
to over 32 thousand billion tonne-miles
in 2008
5
. (A tonne-mile is one tonne of
freight shipped one mile.)
Dry Bulk shipping vessels are broadly categorised as follows
9
(sizing categorisations in
Dry Bulk vessels may vary):
“The United
Nations
Conference
on Trade and
Development
(UNCTAD)
estimates that
the operation of
merchant ships
contributes about
US$380
billion in
freight rates within
the global economy,
equivalent to
about 5% of total
world trade.
5
”
Source: Drewry