FInest

Future Internet PPP Use Case Project

Future Internet PPP

Term begins with:

match in titlematch in contentmatch in metadata

Ocean Freight



Overseas trade has been established already some thousand years ago. Till end of the 19th century it was dominantly performed by various kinds of sailing vessels.

Steamships reached a level of reliability in the last quarter of the 19th century.

Not being dependent of the wind anymore, allowed shipping companies to offer reliable schedules. [Murphy/Wood 2004, pp. 387-395; Vahrenkamp 2005, pp. 316-326]

With the introduction of engine-powered ships the size was increasing and also specialized types have been developed.

Tankers for crude oil have been one the first specialized types as well as ships having equipment for temperature controlled cargo holds.

With ability to provide constant power ships used have their own loading gear.

Nowadays there are lots of different types of ships from product tankers vessels, heavy lift ships, container ships up to ultra-large crude oil carriers (ULCC, 350.000+ tdw). [Murphy/Wood 2004, pp. 387-395; Vahrenkamp 2005, pp. 316-326]

The major limitations for ships size are the depth of the Suez Canal and the locks of the Panama Canal (Panamax size). [Vahrenkamp 2005, pp. 316-326]

For efficiency reasons, the diesel engine has generally replaced all other propulsion methods in merchant vessels.

Till the second half of the 20th century general cargo like boxes, sacks, bags, bundles and crates stowed loose in the cargo hold of the ships. Proper stowing and securing had to be done while loading. [Vahrenkamp 2005, pp. 316-326]

In the 1960th the ISO container as a multi modal shipping unit was introduced and changed the handling process of goods completely.

While before the capacity mentioned as gross tons or tdw (tons dead weight) it is now known as the number of TEU (twenty foot unit) carrying.

The ocean containers are standardized by ISO. Packing and stuffing activities are now moved to the shipper or a service provider out of the port handling.

Ready to ship freight is provided to the port operators and allowed to increase the handling performance significantly. [Vahrenkamp 2005, pp. 317-319]

The increase of the global trade has lead to a dramatic growth of the number of containers being handled and size of the container ships.

While the biggest container ships in the 1980’s had a capacity of approx. 3.000 – 3.500 TEU the maximum is at 12.000 + TEU now (2011). [Vahrenkamp 2005, pp. 316-326]

The containerization of the shipping industry required also that all ports had to change from general cargo hubs to container handling stations. [Vahrenkamp 2005, pp. 323-325]

Meanwhile, all major ports are equipped with the necessary loading and handling gear to be considered by the shipping lines. [Vahrenkamp 2005, pp. 316-326]

Use case 1 will describe the task, activities, participants and their role within an example of a multimodal sea transport.

The international organisation about shipping and ocean freight is called International Maritime Organisation (IMO). The IMO is a sub-organization of the UNO and headquartered in London.

See Modes of Transport

Last change: 2011-11-16

Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional