A cargo ship or freighter ship 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 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.
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.
The maritime fleet of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines comprises 115 ocean-going vessels, with the total capacity of 3.3 million tons deadweight (DWT). The ownership structure of the fleet comprises 87 ocean-going vessels in IRISL and 28 different types of ships under the flag of subsidiaries, including Khazar Shipping, Valfajr as well as Iran-India Shipping Companies. They are manned by 6,000 Iranian personnel including shore staff, deck and engine officers as well as ratings, who work under the flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Caspian Sea, Persian Gulf, international waters and various ports of the world.
An ore-bulk-oil carrier, also known as combination carrier or OBO, is a ship designed to be capable of carrying wet or dry cargoes. The idea is to reduce the number of empty (ballast) voyages, in which large ships only carry a cargo one way and return empty for another. These are a feature of the larger bulk trades.
Sovcomflot is a Russian maritime shipping company specializing in petroleum and LNG shipping, a 100% state-owned corporation founded in 1995. Since December 5, 2006, its headquarters are located in Saint Petersburg. It is headed by General Director Sergei Frank. In 2007-2008 Sovcomflot absorbed the assets of state-owned, Novorossiysk-based Novoship and thus became the largest shipping company in Russia.
A merchant navy or merchant marine or mercantile marine is the fleet of merchant vessels that are registered in a specific country. On merchant vessels, seafarers of various ranks and sometimes members of maritime trade unions are required by the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) to carry Merchant Mariner's Documents.
Euroseas, Ltd. is shipping company that was founded about a century ago and became public in 2005. The company is based in Maroussi, Athens, Greece.
Polska Żegluga Morska known as Polsteam or PŻM, is a cargo ship operator based in Szczecin, Poland. Polsteam is a state-owned enterprise with around 3,000 employees.
A heavy-lift ship is a vessel designed to move very large loads that cannot be handled by normal ships. They are of two types:
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 Nigeria to the refineries on the coast of the United States. 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.
Fednav is a group of Canadian companies, divisions, and subsidiaries in the maritime transport industry. Primarily involved in transporting over 26.1 million tonnes of bulk cargo and break bulk cargo worldwide, the company is also involved in vessel servicing and cargo handling.
Cornships Management and Agency Inc. was a Turkish shipping company. The company managed and provided agency services for the fleet owned and controlled by Corn Marine Ltd. of Malta. The company specialized in dry bulk cargo. Cornships was divided into four departments: operations, technical, crewing, and commercial & agency department.
Atlantska plovidba d.d. is a Croatian shipping company. Founded in 1955 in Dubrovnik, the company works mostly in the dry bulk and heavy lift markets, serving both domestic and international clients
The H. Vogemann Group is a German shipping company. Founded in 1886, the company is privately owned by its managing partners and its fleet of bulk carriers has a capacity of more than 1.5 million tonnes deadweight (DWT).
Portline Transportes Marítimos Internacionais, SA., often simply called Portline is a Portuguese shipping company. The company has diverse business activities, including dry bulk, containerised, and break-bulk cargo shipping, shipping agency, forwarding and logistics services, ship management and manning, ship brokerage and chartering, and a container depot service.
Sealift Incorporated is an American shipping company based in Oyster Bay, New York. The privately held corporation was founded in 1975 by the four owners who remain the principal executives. Sealift Inc. is one of the largest ocean contractors for transporting U.S. food aid and participates in the Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement. Between the start of fiscal 2000 and the first quarter of 2008, Sealift Inc. was awarded US$402,151,046 in contracts.
Hansa Shipping AS is an Estonian shipping concern founded in 1999 in Tallinn, Estonia. The company provides chartering, crew management and ship management services. Currently Hansa Shipping operates a fleet of 30 dry cargo ships ranging in size from 4161 to 6663 DWT and deployed in the Baltic Sea, North Sea and the Mediterranean. Vast majority of the vessels are ice-classed and fly the EU flags.
Oldendorff Carriers is a family owned shipping company with headquarters in Lübeck.
