Transshipment, trans-shipment or transhipment is the shipment of

goods In economics, goods are items that satisfy human wants and provide utility, for example, to a consumer making a purchase of a satisfying product. A common distinction is made between goods which are transferable, and services, which are not ...

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 ter ...

to an intermediate destination, then to another destination. One possible reason for transshipment is to change the

means of transport Means of transport are transport facilities used to carry people or cargo. __NOTOC__ Examples for means of transport for land transport * Automobiles * Bicycles * Carriages * Pack animals *Riding animals *Rickshaws * Trains * Trucks * Vehicles * ...

during the journey (e.g., from

ship transport Maritime transport (or ocean transport) and hydraulic effluvial transport, or more generally waterborne transport, is the transport of people (passengers) or goods (cargo) via waterways. Freight transport by sea has been widely used throug ...

road transport Road transport or road transportation is a type of transport using roads. Transport on roads can be roughly grouped into the transportation of goods and transportation of people. In many countries licensing requirements and safety regulations ...

), known as

transloading Transloading, also known as cross-docking, is the process of transferring a shipment from one mode of transportation to another. It is most commonly employed when one mode cannot be used for the entire trip, such as when goods must be shipped i ...

. Another reason is to combine small shipments into a large shipment (consolidation), or the opposite: dividing a large shipment into smaller shipments (deconsolidation). Transshipment usually takes place in

transport hub A transport hub is a place where passengers and cargo are exchanged between vehicles and/or between transport modes. Public transport hubs include railway stations, rapid transit stations, bus stops, tram stops, airports and ferry slips. F ...

s. Much international transshipment also takes place in designated customs areas, thus avoiding the need for customs checks or duties, otherwise a major hindrance for efficient transport. An item handled (from the shipper's point of view) as a single movement is not generally considered transshipped, even if it changes from one mode of transport to another at several points. Previously, it was often not distinguished from

, since each leg of such a trip was typically handled by a different shipper. Transshipment is normally fully legal and an everyday part of world trade. However, it can also be a method used to disguise intent, as is the case with

illegal logging Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, or from a ...

smuggling Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. There are variou ...

, or grey-market goods.

Transshipment at container ports or terminals

The transshipment of

at a container port or terminal can be defined as the number (or proportion) of containers, possibly expressed in TEU, of the total container flow that is handled at the port or terminal and, after temporary storage in the stack, transferred to another ship to reach their destinations. The exact definition of transshipment may differ between ports, mostly depending on the inclusion of inland water transport (barges operating on canals and rivers to the

hinterland Hinterland is a German word meaning "the land behind" (a city, a port, or similar). Its use in English was first documented by the geographer George Chisholm in his ''Handbook of Commercial Geography'' (1888). Originally the term was associate ...

). The definition of transshipment may: *include only seaborne transfers (a change to another international deep-sea

container ship A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermoda ...

); or *include both seaborne and inland waterway ship transfers (sometimes called ''water-to-water'' transshipment). Most coastal container ports in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

have a large proportion of riverside "transshipment" to the hinterland. In both cases, a single, unique, transshipped container is counted twice in the port performance, since it is handled twice by the waterside

container crane A container crane (also container handling gantry crane or ship-to-shore crane) is a type of large dockside gantry crane found at container terminals for loading and unloading intermodal containers from container ships. Container cranes consis ...

s (separate unloading from arriving ship A, waiting in the stack, and loading onto departing ship B).

Transshipment at sea

Transshipment at sea is done by transferring goods from one ship to another.

Fisheries

In global fisheries transshipment is used to transfer catch to refrigerated cargo vessels that also supply fishing vessels with fuel, food, equipment and personnel allowing them to stay at sea for months or even years. This guarantees that fish quickly find their way to the market without a decrease in quality. Since transshipment at sea encounters often happen on the high seas, in regions with poor regulation and oversight, they are also used to disguise criminal activities such as

illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) is an issue around the world. Fishing industry observers believe IUU occurs in most fisheries, and accounts for up to 30% of total catches in some important fisheries. Illegal fishing takes pl ...

forced labor Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...

human trafficking Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extr ...

and drug smuggling. Several states and regional fishery management organizations have therefore prohibited the practice for certain vessel types or issued a complete ban within their zone of jurisdiction.

Bulk products

Transshipment at sea also occurs in the export of bulk products. Choosing to transship reduces capital costs for port developers and can overcome problems arising from limited access to deep water. Loading barges typically specify 4 to 7 meters of draft. Since at least 2011, transshipment has been used in northern Australia in the export of bulk minerals including

bauxite Bauxite is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (Al(OH)3), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)) and diaspore (α-AlO ...

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 ...

and

potash Potash () includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water- soluble form.

from mines in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...

and the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

. Companies providing at-sea transshipping services in Australia include the CSL Group and Transshipment Services Australia (TSA).

Transshipment at a break-of-gauge

At a break-of-gauge, cargo is transloaded from

boxcar A boxcar is the North American (AAR) term for a railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to carry freight. The boxcar, while not the simplest freight car design, is considered one of the most versatile since it can carry most ...

s or covered goods wagons on one track to wagons on another track of a different

rail gauge In rail transport, track gauge (in American English, alternatively track gage) is the distance between the two rails of a railway track. All vehicles on a rail network must have wheelsets that are compatible with the track gauge. Since many ...

, or else

are transloaded from

flatcar A flatcar (US) (also flat car, or flatbed) is a piece of rolling stock that consists of an open, flat deck mounted on a pair of trucks (US) or bogies (UK), one at each end containing four or six wheels. Occasionally, flat cars designed to carry ...

s on one track to flatcars on another track of a different gauge.

Notes

References

What Is Transshipment?
from Informed Trade website * E. Rojas. "MCS Observers on board at-sea Transshipment Vessels." In: ''APO Mail Buoy'' Vol. 10 (3). pp. 8–9. 2007. Freight transport