Tramp Shipping:                                        

Tramp shipping refers to the transportation services provided for the transportation needs of a specific cargo. It is not fixed in terms of route and time. Usually, a cargo owner has a specific transportation need that justifies the full use of a ship. Therefore, the provision of services suitable for such a need is provided by tramp shipping or irregular lines.

At the beginning of the history of shipping, tramp shipping was the only type of sea transportation. It is now a type of shipping line through which most goods in world maritime transport are moved. However, as a result of the evolution of the shipping industry, tramp shipping is increasingly used in the transportation of large quantities of homogeneous goods, often raw materials, called bulk cargo.

Bulk cargo is usually referred to as unpackaged and completely open cargo that can be easily and quickly loaded, stowed (arranged) or unloaded from bulk ships using special equipment. There are many equipments for unloading and loading bulk cargo that are widely used in ports. Such as pumps, conveyor belts, suction cups, etc. Goods such as oil, grains, coal, ore, etc. are bulk goods. Another term called “semi-bulk” is also used for goods that are homogeneous in nature and identical in appearance but must be unloaded and loaded in pieces and separately. Such as timber (logs), metal products, bagged cargoes such as cement, chemical fertilizers, cocoa, coffee, etc.

The distinctive feature of bulk cargo transportation is the very low cost achieved through economies of scale. Due to the physical properties of bulk cargo, bulk carriers can be built very large. For example, the largest oil tanker today is 500,000 tonnes DWT and the largest bulk carrier (dry bulk) is 350,000 tonnes DWT.

To explain the extraordinary size of bulk carriers and the economic advantages that come with it, three things need to be mentioned:

First:

There is a great demand for bulk goods in the market. The market demand for goods such as oil, coal, iron ore, is always in high quantity and requires transportation that can meet this demand. The constant and huge demand of the market justifies not only specialized bulk carriers, but also specialized terminals.

Second:

Bulk goods are often raw and homogeneous materials that allow the transportation of goods in an open and unpackaged form.

Third:

Due to their openness and homogeneous nature, bulk goods can be moved quickly in ports using specialized equipment.

Special terminals for bulk cargo transportation – wet (liquid) or dry – usually have the following characteristics:

1. High water depth:

Since the size of bulk carriers is very large, a large depth is required in the ports. The water depth may be between 12 and 17 meters, depending on the type of bulk cargo and the ships.

2. Special loading and unloading equipment:

To achieve high efficiency, each piece of equipment is built for a specific purpose. A dry bulk terminal can normally load or unload a bulk carrier at a rate of 10,000-20,000 tons per day.

3. Large storage facilities and areas:

Oil tanks, grain silos, and large open or closed storage areas are usually signs of bulk terminals.

Good connectivity and linkage of forward transport:

Bulk cargo is usually raw material with low unit value. Land transportation of bulk cargo, like its sea transportation, is low cost. Therefore, bulk cargo terminals are well connected to the railway system.

Bulk cargo is transported in the tramp shipping market. But it is not only bulk carriers that operate in the tramp shipping market. General cargo ships, ro-ro and timber carriers, etc. are also sometimes seen in this market. The only condition is that the routing and scheduling of transportation is done according to the cargo needs that are available in sufficient quantity to use the full space of the ship. Some miscellaneous goods such as metal products, coffee, cocoa beans are available in large quantities and are therefore transported by tramp shipping.