Cargo Handling

The sea trade has always played a significant role in both the business success of shipping companies and the welfare of the nations. The container storage yard is the geographical and operational centre of the container terminals in most seaports. As a result, it is very important and plays one of the major roles for the trade and transportation flows.

One of the very latest developments in the operations relating the storage of the containers is the implementation of the automated rail mounted gantry crane system offering the very dense stacking of the units and lower labour costs. This publication was written with the purpose to investigate if the operational performance of the above mentioned seaport container terminals is influenced by the design of the storage systems and find out to what exactly extent this performance is affected by the framework conditions at the terminal.

In addition, it is discussed the strategies applicable to the crane scheduling and stacking of the containers. The authors present a very detailed simulation model in order to compare the performance effects of some other storage designs as well as innovative planning strategies. This is a very useful and informative publication for people involved in storage and transportation of the shipping containers. 

The crude oil is maybe the most important cargo of those transported by sea over the last century. It provides people with the energy necessary to drive virtually everything. The present book was written by Captain P. Armitage with the ultimate intention to serve as a mandatory training for the second officers willing to move up to the position of Chief Officer - in fact it will be useful to every single ship officer working on a tanker and standing a cargo watch.

The content of this volume is covering absolutely everything starting from the fundamentals of the crude oil chemistry and up to the economics of today's oil market. Loading and discharge operations are deservedly treated as the critically important activities. When carrying out loading and discharge of the shipboard cargo, the accidents may seriously compromise the safety of the crew members, the ship herself as well as the environment.

Well developed and carefully reviewed plans supplemented with the standing instructions and established emergency procedures will significantly contribute to the success of the cargo operations and provide additional flexibility to the commercial operators. This volume puts decades of the practical experience into a quite concise format which is technical but still reader friendly. A copy of this book shall be in the library of every tanker officer for easy and ready reference at all times.

As it is clear from the title of the volume, it contains the Rickmers Standard which is deservedly considered the major reference source for planning and handling of the project cargo handling, as well as stowage, securing and lashing of such cargoes. The main purpose of this Standard is to let all parties involved, including shippers and stevedores, to get informed about the established cargo handling and cargo securing practices that have proven effective.

Following these procedures will contribute in the improvement of the technical and commercial performance and this will be achieved by avoiding or at least minimizing the loss and damage of the cargoes transported on board ships. This all, in turn, will eventually result in the improved safety of the people and cargo at sea together with the improved environment protection.

The content of the Standard is arranged in three big sections, namely pre-shipment info for the shippers and ship agents, standards to be applied to lifting, bedding and securing cargoes, and assessing the shipboard securing and stowage arrangements for their compliance with the provisions of the standard. Four annexes provide some additional information and a glossary of terminology used throughout the Standard.

We recommend you to have a look into this compact but quite informative and useful booklet released by the specialists of the world respected OCIMF organization. This document is intended to provide some information to be used by the people involved in marine transportation of the flammable oil cargo. In the pages of this booklet they will find some valuable guidance related to the use of the inert gases - these guidelines are applicable to the tankers of any size.

The content of the document was prepared on the basis of the historical incidents that involved explosions and fires on the tankers, namely in their cargo areas. The idea of the authors was to establish the safety benefits you will get when using the inert gases for prevention of the explosions and fires. note that the document is not supposed to and shall not be treated as the guidebook for the chemical tankers.

The information has been arranged in four sections. The first two sections give the general introduction and legislation background, while the third section provides the professional reviews of the accidents. Finally, the closing section of the volume contains technical guidance as noted above. This is a must-have publication on board any tanker.

This book shall definitely be treated as the basic reference source to be used by all merchant seamen and providing them with the required guidance to the major characteristics of a very broad range of transported cargoes. The content has been thoroughly revised and significantly updated to cover all aspects of the international maritime shipping, cargo transportation and handling.

The author has provided a good coverage of the main general principles together with the recently implemented regulations affecting all cargo operations, roll-on/roll-off systems, various equipment commonly used for cargo handling, containerization issues, transportation of passengers and many other areas.

The latest provisions contained in the relevant IMO documents have been addressed with their key elements duly explained. The book will be very useful for the students when preparing for the examinations in the relevant disciplines; however, it will also be great when used by the serving crew of the ships. This second edition of the publication features two completely new chapters covering the offshore trades and passenger ships. Recommended to anyone involved in maritime cargo transportation.

Here is a truly excellent compilation of stowage factors. The publication was prepared by the industry experts and is providing reader with the necessary information on the stowage factors. One of the most useful reference sources covering literally all classes of merchandise. This sixth edition of the volume has been significantly revised in order to include more useful data such as the stowage factors for bulk shipments of the ore cargo, sweet oil, containerships etc.

The stowage factors presented in the book are in cubic meters as well as cubic feet per ton. The information contained in this publication is the result of combined work of a team of experts and it took years to gather it all. All entries included in the volume are arranged in alphabetical order for easiest reference. There is a separate section addressing measurement and capacity of the shipping containers.

In short, the book is full of up-to-date and useful data arranged in such a way that would allow their immediate use on board any cargo ship so we do recommend having a copy at all times. Several supplementary tables are also there to give some additional data, such as tonnage conversion, salinity and draught adjustment etc.

Subject publication was prepared and released by the Hong Kong Marine Department. The document has been in use for decades and the contents prove useful to the crews. This release of the volume reflects all developments in the field of cargo handling on board marine ships. The intention of the authors was to provide readers and of course crew members of the ships in the first turn, with the required guidelines and essential technical knowledge of health and safety.

This knowledge includes the basic safety features and associated equipment, safe access arrangements and correct use of the cargo handling equipment. Due attention shall be paid to establishing and following the safe working practices by all parties involved in handling cargo. Handling containers has been addressed in the separate, newly added, chapter, where the authors has provided a good analysis of the health matters that are normally related to the cargo handling activities on board ships.

It should be noted, however, that the contents of the document must not be treated as a formal substitution of the formal requirements and/or their legal interpretation. This is guidance; for the regulations and rules you should go to the relevant rulebooks and standards.

Numerous researches conducted in the field of container safety, particularly their packing, resulted in the conclusion that there are so many good guidelines to the packing of the containers. Those books have been in use for quite a long time; however, the incidents keep happening and include poor securing and/or overweight containers.

Most of the guidance books used today are mainly based on the provisions of the Guidelines for Packing of CTUs, i.e. Container Transport Units. Significant portion of that document still needs to be revised to include updates related to the very latest technological advances in the established container packing practices. The present publication was prepared to fill in the existing gap in information.

Due consideration has been given by the authors to producing the good and easy to implement guidance for the supply chain so that it can be used in any transport mode and not limited to the marine transportation of the container units. In fact, the contents of this book includes a perfectly worked summary of the available volumes with the guidance on container packing and as such will be great practical use to all people involved in container transportation.