Goods shipped in containers are often of high value, and high priority. To answer that, we will need to first understand another aspect of the container industry.
In other words, the forward and aft sections of a container ship are streamlined, and not fuller like that of a bulk carrier or oil tanker. A visual comparison of the hull of a container ship with that of a bulk carrier or an oil tanker would clearly imply that a container ship’s hull has a finer form than the other two. Before we understand why hulls of container ships have attained their characteristic shape, we should first notice the geometry itself. The first and the most prominent design aspect of any type of ship is the geometry of its hull. Often, these vessels are LILO type, because smaller ports are not equipped with quay-side cranes.Ĭontainer Ship Design – The Hull Geometry: Feeder Vessels – Feeder vessels operate between the major and minor container terminals, carrying containers to and from the mother ships.These ships cannot enter smaller ports due to their large draft and overall size. Mother Ships – These are the larger ships, often above 10000 TEU capacity, that ply only between the major container terminals of a nation.These ships always ply only in smaller container terminals that are not equipped with container handling cranes, like the bigger terminals. LILO ship – Lift on / Lift off ships are equipped with their on cranes which are used to load the containers on and off the ship.These type of ships, in some cases, carry both vehicles and containers in different decks. RORO ship – On roll on / roll off type of container ships, containers are rolled on and off the ships using heavy lift vehicles and fork lift trucks.Such ships always ply only on major container ports that are equipped with cranes. They can be loaded only with marine containers, and cargo handling is carried out by quay side cranes that belong to the port authorities. Box container ship – This is the most common type of container ship design.The TEU of a container ship is the number of twenty foot equivalent containers that can be carried by the ship.)īased on Length, Beam, Depth, and Tonnage. Based on TEU (This is the modern day sizing parameter of a container ship.Based on volumetric capacity (In older days, container ships were sized based on their volume).The most widely operating types are as follows: There are different categories of container ships, based on different ways in which they can be categorised. Block coefficient, Midship area coefficient, etc.) Also, before understanding container ships design, it is advised that you have a basic knowledge of fundamental ship terminologies, and those related to hull geometry (e.g. It is important to understand, from this article, how the design of a particular type of ship is dictated by the type of cargo, the ports on route, the functionality of the ship, and also the economic trends in the market.
In this article, we will discuss the design aspects of container ships. Hence, was felt the need to design special types of ships that could not only be loaded with these containers, but were also able to maintain the safe conditions of the contents of the containers. But, with the inclusion of wider types of cargo, containerisations was deemed suitable for compact, fragile, and cargo requiring special care during transit. Even in most general cargo ships, wooden containers or boxes were used to stow unit cargo.
The very first cargo ships were built to carry cargo in bulk.