A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usually specially designed for the task, often being equipped with cranes and other mechanisms to load and unload, and come in all sizes. Today, they are almost always built by welded steel, and with some exceptions generally have a life expectancy of 25 to 30 years before being scrapped.
A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which are used for military purposes.
China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company, known as COSCO, was a Chinese state-owned shipping and logistics services supplier company. Its headquarters is in Ocean Plaza in the Xicheng District in Beijing. It owns 1114 ships, including 365 dry bulk vessels, a container fleet with a capacity of 1,580,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), and a tanker fleet of 120 vessels. The fleet calls at over a thousand ports worldwide. It ranks third largest in both number of container ships and aggregate container volume in the world. In 2012, it was among China's top 15 brands.
A boat or ship engaged in the tramp trade is one which does not have a fixed schedule or published ports of call. As opposed to freight liners, tramp ships trade on the spot market with no fixed schedule or itinerary/ports-of-call(s). A steamship engaged in the tramp trade is sometimes called a tramp steamer; the similar terms tramp freighter and tramper are also used. Chartering is done chiefly on London, New York, and Singapore shipbroking exchanges. The Baltic Exchange serves as a type of stock market index for the trade.
A bulk carrier,bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo, such as grains, coal, ore, steel coils and cement, in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, economic forces have led to continued development of these ships, resulting in increased size and sophistication. Today's bulk carriers are specially designed to maximize capacity, safety, efficiency, and durability.
Shipbroking is a financial service, which forms part of the global shipping industry. Shipbrokers are specialist intermediaries/negotiators between shipowners and charterers who use ships to transport cargo, or between buyers and sellers of vessels.
A tanker is a ship designed to transport or store liquids or gases in bulk. Major types of tankship include the oil tanker, the chemical tanker, and gas carrier. Tankers also carry commodities such as vegetable oils, molasses and wine. In the United States Navy and Military Sealift Command, a tanker used to refuel other ships is called an oiler but many other navies use the terms tanker and replenishment tanker.
Ceres Hellenic Enterprises is a large traditional Greek ship management company based in London. It was founded by George Livanos in 1949, but family shipping interests in fact date back to 1824. It is currently run by Peter G. Livanos.
The Hellenic Merchant Marine refers to the Merchant Marine of Greece, engaged in commerce and transportation of goods and services universally. It consists of the merchant vessels owned by Greek civilians, flying either the Greek flag or a flag of convenience. According to Lloyd's List, in 2015, Greece was the first ship owner country in the world in terms of tonnage with a total DWT of 334,649,089 tons and 5,226 Greek-owned vessels. Greece is a maritime nation by tradition, as shipping is arguably the oldest form of occupation of the Greeks and a key element of Greek economic activity since the ancient times. Today it is the second largest contributor to the national economy after tourism. The Greek fleet flies a variety of flags; however, some Greek shipowners gradually return to Greece following the changes to the legislative framework governing their operations and the improvement of infrastructure.
BW Group is a global maritime group involved in shipping, floating gas infrastructure and deepwater oil & gas production. The company has a fleet of over 165 vessels. The group was founded by Sir Yue-Kong Pao in Hong Kong in 1955 as World-Wide Shipping. In 2003, the company acquired Bergesen d.y. ASA, Norway's largest shipping company, which was founded in 1935 by Sigval Bergesen the Younger. In 2005, the business was re-branded as BW. With its LNG and LPG fleets combined, BW Group operates the world's largest gas shipping fleet of more than 70 large gas vessels, including three FSRUs. BW Offshore operates the world's second largest floating oil and gas production fleet (FPSOs), with more than 15 units in the US, Brazil, Mexico, West Africa, North Sea, and Australasia. BW's fleet also includes crude oil supertankers, refined oil tankers, chemical tankers and dry bulk carriers.
Port Weller Dry Docks was a shipbuilder located on the Welland Canal at the Lake Ontario entrance. The shipbuilder was founded in 1946 and the site was initially owned by the Government of Canada for storage purchases. The shipyard expanded to include ship repair, and reconstruction work. In 1956, the drydock was sold to the Upper Lakes Shipping Company, which began the construction of vessels at the site. The shipyard twice went insolvent, most recently in 2015. Port Weller Dry Docks was used to build, refit and repair cargo vessels.
Bahri, formerly known as the National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia, is a transportation and logistics company, positioned as the national shipping carrier of Saudi Arabia.
An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined crude oil from its point of extraction to refineries. For example, moving crude oil from oil wells in a producing country to refineries in another country. Product tankers, generally much smaller, are designed to move refined products from refineries to points near consuming markets. For example, moving gasoline from refineries in Europe to consumer markets in Nigeria and other West African nations.
The Lemos family is a prominent Greek ship owning family which has been involved in shipping since the 18th century. They originated from Kardamyli in Mani as the 'Lemaki' family. They emigrated to Chios and changed their names to Lemos during the journey to avoid detection. Having moved from Kardamyli and Langada in the Mani region they then named the areas in Chios "Kardamila" and "Lagada". From 1860 to 1914 the family owned 52 vessels.
BP Shipping is the maritime arm of British headquartered global oil company, BP. The unit covers the marine transport, logistics and insurance requirements of all BP's global activities.
The Ben Line or Ben Line Steamers, Limited was a Scottish shipping company based in Leith, Scotland founded in 1825 which was primarily involved in the Far East to Europe trade. A private company, it was largely owned by members of the Thomson family from Leith and the Mitchell family from Alloa.
The Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) is the national flag carrier and a state-owned megacorporation under the administrative control of the Secretary to the Government of Pakistan for Maritime Affairs. The Corporation's head office is located in Karachi. A regional office based in Lahore caters to upcountry shipping requirements. The corporation also has an extensive overseas network of agents looking after its worldwide shipping business. The Pakistan Merchant Navy is the fleet of state-owned merchant vessels flying the flag of Pakistan National Shipping Corporation and the Civil Ensign of Pakistan.
J. Lauritzen(JL) is a Danish shipping company with worldwide operations headquartered in Hellerup, Denmark. JL is a private company wholly owned by the Lauritzen Foundation, a Danish commercial foundation that is also the main shareholder of DFDS, one of Europe's largest ferry shipping and logistics company.
Leon Patitsas is a London-born Greek shipowner, founder and owner of Atlas Maritime.
Nesskip hf. is an Icelandic shipping company based in Reykjavík. Founded on 27 January 1974 by Captain Gudmundur Asgeirsson, it is one of Iceland's largest bulk transporting firms. According to Bloomberg it "provides a range of shipping-related services as ship owners, ship brokers, port agents, and transport and chartering consultants", and serves "cruise liners, seismic-research vessels, reefers, tankers, and dry cargo vessels and foreign deep sea fishing ships" as a port agent. The company exports oil in their tankers MV Freyja and MV Frigg, but also deals with the shipping of fishmeal, steel products, construction materials, cement, timber, pumice, cement, coal, gravel, ferrosilicon, and salt. It is a member of the international shipping organization Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO). In 2006, Norwegian shipping company Wilson EuroCarriers acquired a majority share in Nesskip; their working relationship dates back to 1977.
