Glossary
Term | Meaning |
Bareboat | A contract where the vessel is hired without crew, charter, and technical management for a given period of time - usually for several years at a fixed hire and often with an option to buy the vessel |
Charterer | Charterers arrange contacts between shipowners or shipping company and businesses that need sea carriage for their goods |
BIMCO | Baltic and International Maritime Council is the worlds’ largest private shipping organisation with 2,720 members worldwide |
GNP | Gross National Product |
Bunker | Fuel for ships |
Capesize | Large ships within the bulk segment with a cargo capacity of 80,000 to 200,000 DWT |
CBM | Cubic meter |
CoA | Contract of Affreightment. A contract engaging the sea carriage of a number of cargos at an agreed, fixed freight rate |
Coating | The paint finish of the tanks in a product tanker vessel, enabling the transportation of refined oil products |
Container feeder | Container feeder vessels carry containers between small harbours and larger container terminals (hubs), where the containers are reloaded to and from container liners. The largest container liners can carry more than 10,000 TEUs and sail between the large container terminals, whereas the feeders typically carry from 300 to 1,000 TEU |
Covenant | Financial terms, set by the lender, which the borrower must comply with at all times |
DWT | Dead Weight Tons is the cargo capacity (tonnage) of a vessel, measured in metric tons (including bunkers, ballast, water and food supplies, crew and passengers) |
Handysize | Large ships within the bulk segment with a cargo capacity of 20,000 to 40,000 |
IFU | The Industrialisation Fund for Developing Countries provides venture capital and consultancy to companies investing in developing countries |
IMO | International Maritime Organisation |
IMO I, II, III | Cargo classifications for the sea carriage of chemical goods |
ISM | The International Safety Management code prescribes the international specification requirements for ships and the operation of ships |
ISO 14.001 | A voluntary environmental standard a shipping company may be certified according to as supplement to the mandatory standards for environment protection |
ISPS | The International Ship and Port facility Security code. Stipulates a number of demands, aiming at increasing the safety for ships and harbour facilities |
Commercial manager | Responsible for employing the vessel including cargo chartering |
Marine Line | Marine Line is a chemical tank coating which does not soften or absorb the cargo, which means that the range of possible cargo types is extended and the change from one type of cargo to another can be done very rapidly |
Minibulk | Small ships within the bulk segment with a cargo capacity below 10,000 DWT |
MTBE | Methyl t-butyl ether is a gasoline additive improving the octane number of the fuel |
Multi-purpose vessel | Vessels which can carry various types of cargo, including unwieldy goods such as wind turbines, oil pipes and large land moving machines – and the vessel can carry containers as well |
Pool | A group of vessels of comparable specifications, owned by several partners, but commercially operated as one single fleet |
Product tanker | Vessel carrying refined fluid products |
Ro-Lo | Ro-Lo vessels can carry various cargo types and navigate harbours which are difficult to access for other vessel types, such as container vessels |
Second-hand tonnage | Second-hand vessels |
SMC | Safety Management Certificate |
Spot rate | Short term contracts at current market rate (spot) and usually engaged for one freight only |
T/C-rate | The daily payment received by the shipowner from the time charterer |
Technical manager | Responsible for the day to day operation of the vessel, such as the current maintenance, repairs and docking. The technical manager is also responsible for the hiring and paying of crew |
TEU | Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit (twenty foot container) |
Time Charter or T/C | Long term contract, with duration of one month and up to several years, in which the freight rates are fixed for the entire contracting period. Through this the shipowner obtains a stable and predictable income. The Time Charterer has the vessel at his disposal for the period of the contract (the charter period) and for this he pays a fixed, daily rate (T/C-rate). The shipowner defrays the costs for crewing, maintenance, insurance and chartering commission, whereas the Time Charterer pays the costs for bunker oil, harbouring etc. The Time Charterer pays the daily rate regardless of whether the vessel is sailing with cargo or is harboured. |
TMSA | Tanker Management Self Assessment |
Tonnage provider | A shipowning company who has outsourced the commercial operation of their vessels |
Vetting | The regular control inspections which the oil companies carry out on chemical tankers. These inspections constitute the oil companies’ possibility of checking whether the vessel’s technical condition, the cargo loading gear and the crew’s experience with the vessel are at the required levels |