shipping Freight transport, also referred as ''Freight Forwarding'', is the physical process of transporting Commodity, commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it h ...

, the stowage factor indicates how many

cubic metre The cubic metre (in Commonwealth English and international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures) or cubic meter (in American English) is the unit of volume in the International System of Units (SI). Its symbol is m ...

s of space one

tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...

(or cubic feet of space one long ton) of a particular type of

cargo Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including trans ...

occupies in a

hold Hold may refer to: Physical spaces * Hold (ship), interior cargo space * Baggage hold, cargo space on an airplane * Stronghold, a castle or other fortified place Arts, entertainment, and media * Hold (musical term), a pause, also called a Fermat ...

of a

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter 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 usu ...

.Stopford, M
Maritime Economics
Third Edition. Roudledge, 2009. Pages 575–576. It is calculated as the ratio of the

stowage In nautical terminology, stowage is the amount of room available for stowing materials aboard a ship, tank or an airplane. In container shipping, stowage planning refers to the arrangement of containers on board a container vessel. The stowage of ...

space required under normal conditions, including the stowage losses caused by the means of transportation and packaging, to the weight of the cargo.Stowage factor
Transport Information Service (TIS). The stowage factor can be used in

ship design Naval architecture, or naval engineering, is an engineering discipline incorporating elements of mechanical, electrical, electronic, software and safety engineering as applied to the engineering design process, shipbuilding, maintenance, and o ...

and as a reference to evaluate the efficiency of use of the cargo space on a ship.

Variability

The stowage factor varies from one type of

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 ...

to another — for example

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...

has a stowage factor of 0.40 (m³/mt), meaning that the space needed by one tonne of ore is only one sixth of that required to stow one tonne of

woodchips Woodchips are small- to medium-sized pieces of wood formed by cutting or chipping larger pieces of wood such as trees, branches, logging residues, stumps, roots, and wood waste. Woodchips may be used as a biomass solid fuel and are raw material ...

that have a stowage factor of 2.5. This means that if a ship designed to carry woodchips is loaded with iron ore, only a small part of the hold capacity can be utilized, and a

bulk carrier A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo — such as grains, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement — in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, econom ...

designed to carry iron ore cannot be loaded to the maximum

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vessel ...

with woodchips, leaving much of its

deadweight tonnage Deadweight tonnage (also known as deadweight; abbreviated to DWT, D.W.T., d.w.t., or dwt) or tons deadweight (DWT) is a measure of how much weight a ship can carry. It is the sum of the weights of cargo, fuel, fresh water, ballast water, provi ...

unutilized. Thus the stowage factor is taken into account in ship design when determining the size of cargo holds, and specialized ships such as

ore carrier A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo — such as grains, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement — in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, econom ...

s and

car carrier Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using ...

s are built for cargoes with a stowage factor that departs significantly from the average. The stowage factor also depends on the type of

packaging Packaging is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the process of designing, evaluating, and producing packages. Packaging can be described as a co ...

, being the lowest for unpackaged

bulk cargo Bulk cargo is commodity 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 oi ...

. While most commonly used for dry bulk cargo, a stowage factor can also be calculated for liquid bulk cargo and other commodities such as

containers A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

cars A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as t ...

. Stowage factors for several types of cargo are presented in the following table.

Stowage Factor (SF) Examples

Stowage Factor (SF) Example 1: Ship A
Deadweight Cargo Capacity (DWCC): 55,000 mtons
Grain Cubic Capacity: 70,000 m³ (2,470,000 ft³)
Cargo: 55,000 mtons of Bulk Phosphate
Bulk Phosphate Stowage Factor (SF) about 0.90 m³/ton (32 ft³/ton)
In fact, Ship A has space for 55,000 mtons on her holds
70,000/0.90 = 77,000 mtons or 2,470,000/32 = 77,000 mtons (rounded)
However, Ship A can only take 55,000 mtons in weight of Bulk Phosphate before Ship A loadline is submerged

Stowage Factor (SF) Example 2: Ship B
Deadweight Cargo Capacity (DWCC): 55,000 mtons
Grain Cubic Capacity: 70,000 m³ (2,470,000 ft³)
Cargo: 55,000 mtons of Barley
Barley Stowage Factor (SF) about 1.47 m³/ton (52 ft³/ton)
In fact, Ship B can lift 55,000 mtons
70,000/1.47= 47,500 mtons or 2,470,000/52 = 47,500 mtons (rounded)
However, Ship B can only take 47,500 mtons in weight of Barley before Ship B is full and no more space is available in the Ship B's holds

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stowage factor Maritime transport Logistics

Variability

Stowage Factor (SF) Examples

See also

References