What are the different types of ships in Merchant Navy ?
In this article we will discuss about the different types of ships in merchant navy and the types of cargo each one of them carries.
Mostly Asked Questions on different types of ships in Merchant Navy :
(1) What are the different types of ships in merchant navy ?
(2) What type of cargo is carried on merchant navy vessels ?
(3) What are the different types of ships and their uses ?
(4) How many types of ships are in merchant navy ?
(5) What are the different types of ships ?
Different types of ships in Merchant Navy :
(1) Oil Tankers :
Oil tankers, as the name suggests carry crude oil from one country to another country.
Crew working on oil tankers need to do the oil tanker familiarisation course and then only they can work on oil tankers.
The size of these ships are in the range of 50,000 DWT to 5,00,000 DWT.
These types of vessels transport oil all over the world.
(2) Chemical Tankers :
These types of vessels carry different types of liquid chemicals in bulk.
The sizes of chemical tankers is between 5,000 DWT to 40,000 DWT.
Seafarers who want to work on chemical tankers are required to do the chemical tanker familiarisation course, then only they can work on chemical tankers.
(3) Gas Tankers :
Gas tankers carry Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) and Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) under pressure.
If somebody wants to work on gas tankers then they should do the gas tanker familiarisation course.
The capacity of gas tankers ranges between 15,000 m3 to 1,70,000 m3.
(4) Bulk Carriers :
Bulk carriers carry cargoes like coal, ores and grains.
These are of the size of 10,000 DWT to 1,50,000 DWT.
Bulk carriers form the important link in the global trade.
Also read : How does the watch keeping system work on the ships ?
(5) Container Ships :
Container ships are mainly used to transport standard sized manufactured goods all over the world.
The cargo carrying capacity of container ships are between 1,000 TEU to 14,500 TEU.
(6) Car Carriers :
All the car manufacturing companies transport their cars all over the world by using car carriers.
Car carriers are mainly RO-RO types of ships.
The RO-RO types of ships in addition to cars also carry buses, trucks and other types of transport vehicles.
These types of ships carry around 8,000 or even more vehicles in them.
(7) Product Tanker :
Product tankers carry various products like diesel, naphtha, jet fuel, tar and lubricating oils.
The product tankers are of the size of 1,000 DWT to 35,000 DWT.
(8) Reefer Ships :
Reefer ships carry that type of cargo which requires refrigerated conditions for their transport.
The cargoes they carry are mainly perishable goods like meat, fish and fruits.
The capacity of reefer ships is between 20,000 DWT to 1,20,000 DWT.
(9) Offshore Vessels :
Offshore vessels are used for doing various tasks like oil exploration and drilling at sea.
The dead weight of offshore ships is between 3,000 DWT to 11,000 DWT.
Offshore vessels include Platform supply vessels, Multi role support vessels and anchor handling tug supply vessels.
Hello. This is Alkesh Patil. I am a Marine Engineer with 10+ years of experience in Merchant Navy. In this blog, I will try to provide some basic information about merchant navy and life onboard ship.
image sources
- The ship POLAR ADVENTURE: Image Credits - Google | Image by Wikimedia Commons
