Unit 2

TYPES OF VESSELS

2.1. Types of Vessels

Generally speaking a vessel can be classified according to the purpose she serves. The
most common purposes are:
 Transportation of cargo and/or passengers;
 Assistance and service (by so called “special purpose vessels”);
 The catching of fish (fishermen);
 Peace keeping (warships).

According to other authors, the great majority of ships that are neither military vessels
nor yachts can be divided into several broad categories: cargo carriers, passenger carriers,
industrial ships, service vessels, and non-commercial miscellaneous. Each category can be
subdivided, with the first category containing by far the greatest number of subdivisions.

Cargo ships can be divided in two basic types: dry cargo vessels and liquid cargo
vessels.
Some of the vessels which carry dry cargo are:
 multi-deck vessels (with holds divided horizontally by one or two ‘tween decks)
 bulk carriers (no ‘tween decks)
 container ships (carry containers of standard dimensions)
 refrigerated ships (carry fruit, meat and dairy produce)
Multi-Purpose vessel. These ships are equipped with a variety of cargo handling gears to load
and discharge different types of cargoes.

Liquid cargo is carried mainly in:

 oil tankers (the most common type)
 LNGs
 chemical carriers
A type of ship which carries both dry bulk and liquid is the OBO ship. She has been subdivided
in such a way that oil can be carried in the largest compartments and ore can be carried in the
smaller compartments.

Passenger ships are fewer in number and type. They can be divided into:
 passenger liners
 cruise ships
 ferries (if they carry vehicles have doors in the bow or stern)
There are, of course, many other types of vessel both merchant and navy divided and
classified upon different criteria. We are going to give the characteristics, main parts and design
of some of the most important types, starting with a description of a general cargo ship.
A. Cargo carriers
Cargo ships can be distinguished by the type of cargo they carry, especially since the
means of handling the cargo is often highly visible. As noted below, the trend is toward
specialization in this regard. One consequence is a proliferation in types of cargo vessel. The
present discussion is limited to a few types that are represented by large numbers of ships and are
distinctive in appearance.
a. General cargo ships (fig. 1, 2)

Fig. 1 General Cargo Ship

The general cargo ship continues to be built, though in modest numbers. Those built in the last
third of the 20th century are usually fitted with deck cranes, which give them an appearance
distinct from the more specialized ship types.

General cargo is cargo that has been packed in crates, boxes or bags, or cargo coming in
pieces (unpacked cargo items). Cargo is loaded and discharged by the vessel’s own derricks or
by shore based cranes. The conventional general cargo ship has several tweendecks, so that the
cargoes for various destinations can be reached and discharged without having to remove cargo
for other destinations first. Under the influence of cargo-palletization the “open freighter” was
fitted with two or even three hatches side by side. Both types of vessels, the general cargo ship
and the open freighter, are becoming rather obsolete, since general cargo is more and more
transported by vessels that have been designed to carry general cargo in containers.

Fig. 2
b. Bulk Carriers - Dry bulk ships (fig. 3)
Bulk cargo is unpacked cargo of one commodity. Designed for the carriage of ore, coal,
grain, fertilizers and the like, dry-bulk ships bear a superficial likeness to container ships since
they often have no cargo handling gear and, unlike the tanker, have large cargo hatches. The
absence of containers on deck is a decisive indicator that a vessel is a dry-bulk ship, but an
observer may be deceived by the occasional sight of a dry-bulk ship carrying containers and
other nonbulk cargo on deck. An incontrovertible indicator is the self-unloading gear, usually a
large horizontal boom of open truss work, carried by some bulk ships.

Fig. 3 Dry Bulk Carrier

On the Great Lakes of North America this gear is a near-universal feature of ships built
since 1960. Cargo is carried in holds that have been divided into compartments by longitudinal
and transverse separations, so that the ship’s stability will not be affected by a full cargo. The
holds of these ships are often constructed in such a way that they are self-trimming; this means
that the surface of the cargo is constantly made equal by special pumps in rolling circumstances
or when the vessel has a list. Dry bulk cargo is loaded and discharged by cranes with grabs or by
pumps.

c. Container ships (fig. 4, 5)

Cargo that has been containerized is carried by container ships. Like tankers, container
ships are characterized by the absence of cargo handling gear, in their case reflecting the usual
practice of locating the container-handling cranes at shore terminals rather than aboard ship.
Unlike the tanker, container ships require large hatches in the deck for stowing the cargo, which
consists of standardized containers usually either 20 or 40 feet in length. Containers are most
often measured in Twenty Feet Equivalent Units (TEU’s). Below decks, the ship is equipped
with a cellular grid of compartments called Rows, Bays and Tiers opening to the weather deck;
these are designed to receive the containers and hold them in place until unloading is achieved at
the port of destination.
 Fig. 4 Bays, Rows and Tiers on a Container Ship

The rows run abeam, or athwartship; the bays run fore and aft and the tiers are horizontal layers.
The three-figure code on each container refers to this stowage system. The ship is filled to the
deck level with containers, the hatches are closed, and one or two layers of containers, depending
upon the size and stability of the ship, are loaded on the hatch covers on deck.
In a few hours the ship can be filled with containers designated for another port and can
be under way. An additional economy is the low cost of the crew of the ship while it is in port
waiting loading or unloading. Further, because each ship can make more trips than before,
container fleets require fewer vessels. There is also less pilferage and, hence, lower insurance
rates and, finally, the assurance to the shipper that the shipment will not require any further
handling until it arrives at its destination.
Among the disadvantages is the fact that each ship does not carry quite as much total
volume of cargo with containers as with regular bulk stowage, because the containers themselves
take space because they are square in shape. Further, a rather substantial capital investment is
needed in port facilities, such as special berths, weight-handling equipment, storage areas, and
links to land transportation, all of which must be made by the ports that receive or ship via
container ship if its full potential savings are to be realized.
Container ships are moderate-size merchant vessels built for speeds of greater than about
20 knots. Much use is made of small, compact, diesel power plants to provide more space for
containers. Special equipment includes mooring winches to ensure accurate positioning of the
ship under cranes in port and special tanks to list (tip) and trim (level) the ship to permit a
symmetrical loading or unloading without excessive list or trim.

1 bridge castle front 5 insulated containers in holds

2 deck containers 6 container refrigeration ducts
3 foremast and mast top 7 double hull
4 forecastle 8 passageway
 Fig. 5

d. Barge-carrying ships /Lash-vessels (fig. 6)

An extension of the container ship concept is the barge-carrying ship. In this concept, the
container is itself a floating vessel, usually about 60 feet long by about 30 feet wide, which is
loaded aboard the ship in one of two ways: either it is lifted over the stern by a high-capacity
shipboard gantry crane, or the ship is partially submerged so that the barges can be floated
aboard via a gate in the stern.
“Lash” stands for “Lighter Aboard Ship”. A Lash-vessel has a main deck that is flat and
without any obstacles. A lighter is a container that floats in the water. The containers may be
hoisted on board by the vessel’s own heavy derricks that stack them on board. Another way of
loading the containers on board is by submerging the vessel first (for this she must be equipped
with a powerful pumping-system), then have tugs or push boats tow or push the lighters over the
Lash-vessel, after which the vessel will emerge again and “pick up” the lighters. This type of
vessel is also referred to as “Seabee”.

Fig. 6 Barge-carrying ship

e. Heavy-load vessels
Heavy-load vessels have been designed to lift and carry extremely heavy cargo on the
main deck. Their most prominent features are very heavy derricks (“booms”), masts and lifting-
blocks. Their cargoes, such as drilling platforms, engines, yachts, trains, derelicts and wrecks, are
loaded onto the main deck, which is flat and free from any obstacles. A special way of loading
and carrying heavy cargo is performed by submerging the ship and have the cargo-module float
over it. She must be equipped with a powerful pumping-system. After pumping the ship empty,
the vessel will emerge again and will pick up the cargo.
f. Bulk Carriers – Tankers
Liquid cargoes such as crude oil, petroleum, edible oils etc. are carried in tankers, for
example in Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC’s, fig. 7), chemical carriers, such as Liquefied
Petroleum Gas tankers (LPG carriers) or Liquefied Natural Gas tankers (LNG’s carriers).
Product tankers are small tankers that carry different sorts of oils. Ships that carry liquid

Fig.7 VLCC

cargo (most often petroleum and its products) in bulk are made distinctive by the absence of
cargo hatches and external handling gear. When fully loaded they are also readily distinguishable
by scant freeboard - a condition that is permissible because the upper deck is not weakened by
hatches. For safety reasons tankers must be fitted with double bottoms. These spaces also
provide storage for fuel, lubricating oil and water. Tankers are divided into compartments by
longitudinal and transverse bulkheads. Cofferdams are empty spaces between the tanks and the
double bottom. They serve as separations to prevent liquids from leaking from one tank into
another. Cofferdams often serve as pump-rooms. Pumps for loading and discharging the cargo
may be installed in these compartments. Tankers are often loaded and discharged in the offing by
means of flexible pipes. This system of wet bulk handling reduces the number of lay days.

g. Oil tanker (fig. 8, 9)

Fig. 8
In essence, the tanker is a floating group of tanks contained in a ship-shaped hull,
propelled by an isolated machinery plant at the stern. Each tank is substantially identical to the
next throughout the length of the ship. The tanks are fitted with heating coils to facilitate
pumping in cold weather. Within the tanks are the main or high-suction pipes, running several
feet from the bottom to avoid sludge.
 Fig. 9 Oil tanker

1 bulbous bow 8 side ballast tank 13 tank hatch

2 cargo wing tank 9 slop tank 14 foam monitor on platform
3 non-watertight traverse 10 warning light for bulbous 15 cargo manifold
bulkhead bow 16 mast for hose derricks
4 cargo centre tank 11 navigation lights on 17 fore-and-aft gangway
5 transverse web foremast 18 pump room vents
6 watertight bulkhead 12 helicopter landing area
7 bottom centreline girder

Below them, low-suction piping, or stripping lines, removes the lowest level of liquid in
the tank. Tanks are filled either through open trunks leading from the weather deck or from the
suction lines with the pumps reversed. Because tankers, except for military-supply types, usually
move a cargo from the source to a refinery or other terminal with few manoeuvres, the
machinery plant is called on only to produce at a steady rate the cruise power for the ship;
consequently, considerable use of automatic controls is possible, thus reducing the size of the
crew to a minimum. In view of the simplicity of inner arrangement, the tanker lends itself to
mass production perhaps more than any other ship type. Because of the limited crew
requirements and the low cost per ton for initial building and outfitting, the tanker has led the
way in the rapid expansion in the size of ships. The decline of crude oil prices after the
petroleum crisis of 1979 led in turn to a decline in preferred tanker size, but at that time a few
ships had reached 1,300 feet (400 metres) in length, 80 feet in loaded draft, and deadweight of
500,000 tons.

h. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier (fig. 10)

Along with the great increase in numbers and size of tankers have come specialized uses
of tankers for products other than oil. A major user is the natural gas industry. For shipment, gas
is cooled and converted to liquid at -260 F (-162 C) and is then pumped aboard a tanker for
transit in aluminium tanks that are surrounded by heavy insulation to prevent absorption of heat
and to keep the liquid from evaporating during the voyage. The cost of these ships is rather high,
because steel cannot be used for the containers. The cold liquid, in contact with steel, would
make that material as brittle as glass. Aluminium is therefore used, sometimes backed by balsa
wood, and backed in turn by steel. A special nickel-steel alloy known as Invar also has been used
in this application.
 Fig. 10

1 outside escape ladder 7 tank dome 13 hold space

2 fore and aft gangway 8 tank vent riser 14 cargo loading and
3 spherical LNG tank 9 cowl plate discharging station and
4 liquid nitrogen tank 10 lookout station manifold
5 tubular tower 6 cargo piping 11 hold space ventilator 15 reinforced bottom structure
12 double hull forming ballast supporting freestanding
spaces tank

i. Refrigerated cargo-vessels (Reefers, fig. 11)

Fig.11 Reefer
Refrigerated-cargo vessels are ships that carry perishable cargoes, such as meat or fruit.
These cargoes require cooling and must be stored in spaces that have precise temperature and
humidity controls during the voyage. Reefers as these ships are also called, are equipped with
refrigerating plants.

j. Timber carriers (fig. 12)

Timber is a raw material from which wood products are manufactured. Vessels that carry
timber can easily be recognised by their tall derricks. A timber carrier has been designed in such
way that she can carry a tall deck cargo. Her Plimsoll Mark is provided with special timber
Load-line that indicates the maximum draft to which she is allowed to be loaded under certain
circumstances and different seasons.
Fig. 12 Timber carrier