GENERAL CARGO SHIP

General Cargo Ships

A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usually specially designed for the task, often being equipped with cranes and other mechanisms to load and unload, and come in all sizes. Today, they are almost always built of welded steel, and with some exceptions generally have a life expectancy of 25 to 30 years before being scrapped.

History of General Cargo Ships

The earliest records of waterborne activity mention the carriage of items for trade; the evidence of history and archaeology shows the practice to be widespread by the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. The desire to operate trade routes over longer distances and at more seasons of the year motivated improvements in ship design during the middle Ages. Before the middle of the 19th century, the incidence of piracy resulted in most cargo ships being armed, sometimes quite heavily, as in the case of the Manila galleons and East Indiamen. This sometimes resulted in the ships being escorted.

Classification

The modern ocean shipping business is divided into two classes:-

Liner business:  typically (but not exclusively) container vessels (wherein "general cargo" is carried in 20 or 40-foot "boxes"), operating as "common carriers", calling a regularly-published schedule of ports. A common carrier refers to a regulated service where any member of the public may book cargo for shipment, according to long-established and internationally agreed rules.

Tramp-tanker business: generally this is private business arranged between the shipper and receiver and facilitated by the vessel owners or operators, who offer their vessels for hire to carry bulk (dry or liquid) or break bulk (cargoes with individually handled pieces) to any suitable port(s) in the world, according to a specifically drawn contract, called a charter party.

Structure:-

Function :-

Multi-purpose vessels, designed to handle and stow a variety of freight. This may include forest products, manufactured goods, heavy equipment, vehicles, machinery, bagged goods, steel and food products, and containers. Some specialised vessels combine general cargo with heavy lift capabilities for transporting large, awkwardly shaped components to refinery, chemical processing and other plant construction projects

LINER & TRAMP SHIPPING

As we know that the transportation of goods or cargo by water is very cheap and cost saving method. At the same time we are also very much agree that it is a totally customer oriented business, and profit maximization as well return on investment totally depends and concerned with the satisfaction of needs of a customer. Further to make it flexible and extensively availability of services between two destination operators of shipping services or shipping line come with a proper solution and divided the service in Tramp & Liner.

LINER SERVICE: - In most layman language we can say that liner service is a service which stick to the pre decided routine and schedule of sailing, Further a shipping line who carry and transport goods and cargo with a fixed route and pre schedule and a high level of cargo safety is called Liner shipping, in this kind of service the ports of call and time taken during voyage has been pre decided and published by lines in advertisement and accordingly shipper can book their cargo. As it’s a regular and continuous process so that its is also considered as the most reliable service.

CONSTRAINTS OF LINER SERVICE:-

 Highly competitive

 Hard to entry and exit.

 Volatile.

 High investment

 Affected by global economic scenario.

 Unpredictable demand.

TRAMP SERVICE: - Dry bulk cargo or liquid bulk known as the tramp trades and the vessels which available to transport these cargos known as a “TRAMP SHIP” and service known as the tramp service. Tramp service will not have the fixed route and schedule of sailing as it will operate according to the availability of cargo in different port. In most layman language we can say tramp service is just as a taxi service which is hired to go for a single journey and without any fix route. These kind of services mainly operated by vessel charter.

CONSTRAINTS OF TRAMP SERVICE:-

 Highly volatile market.

 Depends upon the bulk trades

 Unpredictable demand.

 Geographical constraint.

 Profit sharing.

HOW TO DEAL WITH SHIPPING RATES

I hope you people reading my blogs and supporting me in great way to share my knowledge with you, I also guess it is also helping you to deal with day to day operation issues’ related to shipping and logistics, Further I assume you used to face one more snag on daily basis i.e. deal with shipping lines, so in this blog I’ll try to give you some handy suggestion to overcome this problem. Trust me when I joined my first organization after completing my MBA in shipping & marine this was the first issue who gave me continuous headache and twinge. After lots of effort I formulated following points which solve most of the hurdles related to shipping rates also its help me to retain my customers (which are the greatest headache in present corporate scenario) as well as saving the cost for the organization. Whether you decide to transport your goods across the country or across the globe the process can leave you feeling stressed and harried. To ensure a smooth and hassle free move follow these steps:-




1. Negotiating with individual carriers: - Leave no room for guesstimating get at least three or four estimates from highly rated shipping company.



2. Using an RFP (requisition for proposals) process:- An increasing number of companies, however, are learning that the RFP process is often the best strategy for obtaining the most competitive pricing. Here are some of the key advantages of an RFP:-



 It's an efficient way to learn what price the market will bear. One RFP can be sent to as many carriers as you choose.



 The transportation business is extremely competitive. Your company's shipping clerks and traffic manager are constantly being contacted by persistent carriers who want their business. When those carriers receive RFP's, they know they finally have the chance they’ve wanted, and they will naturally propose aggressive pricing to take advantage of the opportunity. Carriers you have been doing business with will understand that they could lose your account if they don't make a competitive proposal. The positive effect on your company's bottom line is obvious.



 The organized approach needed to prepare an RFP encourages your company to review its transportation requirements, so that pricing is obtained for the services that will truly meet your needs.



3. Identify requirements:- Meet with the appropriate staff , company-wide, to review and clarify transportation requirements, obtain feedback about current carrier performance, latest service offered by the organization etc.

4. Gather data: - obtain report from shipping company as well as your company about all the last shipment and make an analysis about changes which needed at this point of time.

5. Determine your preferred pricing and contract formats:- Carriers vary in the pricing and contract formats they prefer. Naturally, they tailor them to their advantage. In order to allow "apples to apples" comparisons of the proposals you'll receive, and in order to protect your company’s interests, require all carriers to use the pricing and contract formats you prefer. Tell carriers that any accessorial charges (e.g. trailer detention, etc.) must be indicated in the proposal and the contract, rather than included by reference to the carrier’s Rules Tariff. If your company doesn’t have its own standard transportation contract, a transportation consultant can draft one for you.

Finally I hope it will help you out in any problematic situation related to pricing in the mean time if you got some important suggestion then please let me know.