A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo—such as grain, 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 increased size and sophistication of these ships. Today's bulk carriers are specially designed to maximize capacity, safety, efficiency, and durability.
Capesize ships are the largest dry cargo ships with ball mark dimension: about 170,000 DWT capacity, 290 m long, 45 m beam (wide), 18m draught. They are too large to transit the Suez Canal or Panama Canal, and so have to pass either Cape Agulhas or Cape Horn to traverse between oceans.
SS Mission San Carlos was a Type T2-SE-A2 tanker built for the United States Maritime Commission during World War II. After the war she was acquired by the United States Navy as USS Mission San Carlos (AO-120). Later the tanker transferred to the Military Sea Transportation Service as USNS Mission San Carlos (T-AO-120). She was a Mission Buenaventura-class oiler and was one of two U.S. Navy vessels named for Mission San Carlos Borroméo de Carmelo, located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, the other being Mission Carmel.
An LNG carrier is a tank ship designed for transporting liquefied natural gas (LNG).
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. Product tankers, generally much smaller, are designed to move refined products from refineries to points near consuming markets.
Allseas Group S.A. is a Dutch offshore contractor specialising in pipelay, heavy lift and subsea construction. It was founded in 1985 by owner and president Edward Heerema, employs 4,000 people and operates worldwide.
DryShips Inc is a dry bulk shipping company based in Athens, Greece. It is a Marshall Islands corporation, formed in 2004. On October 11, 2019, it was taken private by CEO and Chairman George Economou.
The Altay class, Soviet designation Project 160, is a class of replenishment oiler built for the Soviet Navy between 1967 and 1972.
The Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) is a Pakistani national flag carrier headquartered in Karachi. The corporation is principally engaged in the business of shipping, including charter of vessels, transportation of cargo and providing commercial, technical, administrative, financial and other services to its subsidiaries and third parties.
Awilco LNG is a Norwegian LNG transportation company. The company was listed on Oslo Axess on 6 September 2011.
Groupe Desgagnés is a Canadian shipping firm. It operates a fleet of nineteen vessels. Gross earnings in 2014 were around $230 million.
MV Span Asia 25 is a container vessel owned and operated by the Philippine Span Asia Carrier Corporation (PSACC). She is the former Heidi B up until September 1994, Maersk Euro Quinto until May 1997, Helgafell up until March 2005, Seaboard Rio Haina up until June 2008, Rio Bogota until December 2009, and Mohegan up until 2016. She was built at Orskov Shipbuilders Yard - Frederikshavn, Denmark in 1994 with IMO number 9100243 and MMSI number 54840200. She has a tonnage of 6158 tons. Her deadweight is 7850 tons and has a length of 121.9 m and beam of 20.1 m.
MV OS 35 was a bulk carrier registered in Tuvalu, a flag of convenience. It was attacked by pirates near Somalia in 2017, and was beached near Gibraltar after a ship collision in 2022. The ship was disposed of afterwards.
MV Arvin was a Ukrainian bulk cargo ship that broke in two and sank in heavy seas off the coast of Bartin, Turkey, in 2021. A video of the ship breaking apart was posted on YouTube. Six of the 12 crew aboard survived the sinking, with three dead recovered and three of the six missing but presumed dead.
MV Verity was a British cargo ship built in 2001 under the name Estime. She was renamed to Union Mercury in 2004, Veqxui in 2008 and finally Verity in 2017. She had a typical general cargo ship design, though she was strengthened for heavy cargo up to 15 tons per square metre, or 15 tons per 1.4 square foot. She had two bulkheads, dividing her single cargo hatch, with six different lockable locations. This made her suitable to carry any grain. Additionally, she could carry 1,533 metric tons of ballast, and 284.72 metric tons of fuel.
Top Ships Inc. is a supply chain maritime transportation operations management company responsible for seaborne trade of raw materials. The company was founded by Evangelos J. Pistiolis on January 10, 2000 and is headquartered in Maroussi, Greece.
MV Abdullah, originally named MV Golden Hawk, is a Bangladeshi bulk carrier.
US$2.067 billion (2023)
US$−842 million (2023)