Bulk cargo is

commodity In economics, a commodity is an economic good, usually a resource, that has full or substantial fungibility: that is, the market treats instances of the good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to who produced them. The price of a comm ...

cargo that is transported unpackaged in large quantities.

Description

Bulk cargo refers to material in either liquid or granular, particulate form, as a mass of relatively small solids, such as petroleum/

crude oil Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...

, coal, or

gravel Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gravel is classifi ...

. This cargo is usually dropped or poured, with a spout or shovel bucket, into a bulk carrier ship's hold,

railroad car A railroad car, railcar (American and Canadian English), railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck (British English and UIC), also called a train car, train wagon, train carriage or train truck, is a ...

railway wagon A railroad car, railcar (American and Canadian English), railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck (British English and UIC), also called a train car, train wagon, train carriage or train truck, is a ...

, or tanker truck/ trailer/ semi-trailer body. Smaller quantities can be boxed (or drummed) and

pallet A pallet (also called a skid) is a flat transport structure, which supports goods in a stable fashion while being lifted by a forklift, a pallet jack, a front loader, a jacking device, or an erect crane. A pallet is the structural foundat ...

ised; cargo packaged in this manner is referred to as breakbulk cargo. Bulk cargo is classified as

liquid A liquid is a nearly incompressible fluid that conforms to the shape of its container but retains a (nearly) constant volume independent of pressure. As such, it is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, gas, a ...

dry Dry or dryness most often refers to: * Lack of rainfall, which may refer to ** Arid regions ** Drought * Dry or dry area, relating to legal prohibition of selling, serving, or imbibing alcoholic beverages * Dry humor, deadpan * Dryness (medica ...

. The Baltic Exchange is based in London and provides a range of indices benchmarking the cost of moving bulk commodities, dry and wet, along popular routes around the seas. Some of these indices are also used to settle Freight Futures, known as FFA's. The most famous of the Baltic indices is the Baltic Dry Indices, commonly called the BDI. This is a derived function of the Baltic Capesize index (BCI), Baltic Panamax index (BPI), Baltic Supramax index (BSI) and the Baltic Handysize index (BHSI). The BDI has been used as a bellwether for the global economy as it can be interpreted as an indicator of an increase or decrease in the amount of raw commodities countries are importing/exporting.

Dry bulk

Dry bulk refers to any cargo which is carried in bulk in solid form. Such carriage is often referred to as the "dry" trades. They would include: LightningVolt Iron Ore Pellets

* Bauxite * Bulk minerals ( sand &

, copper, limestone, salt, etc.) * Cements * Chemicals ( fertilizer, plastic granules & pellets, resin powder,

synthetic fiber Synthetic fibers or synthetic fibres (in British English; see spelling differences) are fibers made by humans through chemical synthesis, as opposed to natural fibers that are directly derived from living organisms, such as plants (like cotton) ...

, etc.) * Coals and cokes * Agricultural products such as dry edibles (for animals or humans:

alfalfa Alfalfa () (''Medicago sativa''), also called lucerne, is a perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, and silage, as w ...

pellets,

citrus pellets Citrus pellets are an animal feed produced from byproducts of citrus processing. Use Used for feedstuff, especially for dairy cattle, fattened beef cattle and sheep. Processing They are produced from the peel, pulp and seeds of several species of ...

, livestock feed,

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many culture ...

, peanuts, raw or refined sugar, seeds,

starch Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diets ...

es, etc.) * Grains ( wheat, maize, rice, barley, oats,

rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe (Triticeae) and is closely related to both wheat (''Triticum'') and barley (genus ''Hordeum''). Rye grain is u ...

sorghum ''Sorghum'' () is a genus of about 25 species of flowering plants in the grass family (Poaceae). Some of these species are grown as cereals for human consumption and some in pastures for animals. One species is grown for grain, while many othe ...

, soybeans, etc.) * Iron ( ferrous & non-ferrous

ores Ore is natural Rock (geology), rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically containing metals, that can be mined, treated and sold at a profit.Encyclopædia Britannica. "Ore". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Ret ...

ferroalloy Ferroalloy refers to various alloys of iron with a high proportion of one or more other elements such as manganese (Mn), aluminium (Al), or silicon (Si). They are used in the production of steels and alloys. The alloys impart distinctive qualitie ...

pig iron Pig iron, also known as crude iron, is an intermediate product of the iron industry in the production of steel which is obtained by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. Pig iron has a high carbon content, typically 3.8–4.7%, along with silic ...

, scrap metal, pelletized taconite), etc. * Wood chips

Liquid bulk cargo

Liquid bulk cargo includes any cargo carried in closed tanks and poured or pumped into the carrying vessel. This would include: * Hazardous chemicals in liquid form * Petroleum * Gasoline * Liquefied natural gas (LNG) *

Liquid nitrogen Liquid nitrogen—LN2—is nitrogen in a liquid state at low temperature. Liquid nitrogen has a boiling point of about . It is produced industrially by fractional distillation of liquid air. It is a colorless, low viscosity liquid that is wide ...

Cooking oil Cooking oil is plant, animal, or synthetic liquid fat used in frying, baking, and other types of cooking. It is also used in food preparation and flavoring not involving heat, such as salad dressings and bread dips, and may be called edible oil. ...

* Fruit juices * Rubber * Vegetable oil

Gallery

File:BFIX 520 20050716 Illinois Railway Museum.JPG, A milk tank car for bulk loading. Image:LO DME 49328.jpg, DME 49328, a covered hopper owned and operated by the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad Image:Heyl_&_Patterson_Rotary_Railcar_Dumper.jpg, A rotary car dumper Image:Schüttgutbeladung eines Feederschiffs mit Rapsschrot.jpg, Bulk loading of a feeder ship with rapeseed meal File:Gabarit AAR Plate-C.png

Large ports specializing in bulk cargo

* Port of Port Hedland, Australia * Port of Rotterdam * Port of Vancouver * Port of Liverpool * Port of Tyne * Port of Amsterdam * Port of Hamilton (Canada)

Bibliography

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References

{{Authority control Bulk material handling