Maritime Economics and Demand for Maritime Transportation

Vocabulary flashcards covering core concepts, cargo types, ship categories, vessel sizes, and demand variables from the Maritime Economics lectures.

Maritime Transportation Utility

The generation of economic value through the movement of cargo or passengers from a point of origin to a destination port for discharge or disembarkation.

Bulk Cargo

Any consignment of cargo large enough to complete the capacity of an entire ship or hold on its own, usually transported in batches greater than $2,000\text{--}3,000 proposal tonnes$ or tons.

General Cargo

Consignments of cargo small enough that they cannot fill a ship or hold independently, stowed and transported jointly with other consignments in lots of less than $2,000\text{--}3,000 proposal tonnes$ or tons.

Major Bulks

The five primary dry bulk commodities transported globally by dry bulk carriers: iron ore, coal, grains, phosphates, and bauxite.

Minor Bulks

Secondary dry bulk commodities transported by dry bulk carriers, including steel products, aluminium, cement, fertilisers, gypsum, sugar, salt, and timber products.

Palletized Cargo

General cargo secured on standardized wooden or plastic platforms to facilitate easy stowage and rapid handling.

Containerized Cargo

General cargo packed inside standardized intermodal containers, typically measuring $8 proposal \text{feet}$ wide, $8.5 proposal \text{feet}$ high, and $20$, $30$, or $40 proposal \text{feet}$ in length.

Non-unitized General Cargo

Unpackaged general cargo (also called loose or breakbulk cargo), such as independent boxes or machinery parts, stowed and loaded as individual lots.

Refrigerated Cargo

Perishable goods, such as fruit and foodstuffs, requiring temperature control and transported frozen or chilled in reefer vessels or refrigerated containers.

Valemax

The largest size category of dry bulk carriers, having a carrying capacity of approximately $400,000 proposal \text{dwt}$.

Capesize

Large dry bulk carriers with a deadweight capacity ranging between $120,000 proposal \text{dwt}$ and $200,000 proposal \text{dwt}$, which are generally too large for canal transit and must navigate around Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope.

Panamax (Dry Bulk)

Dry bulk carriers with a deadweight capacity of $70,000 proposal \text{dwt}$ to $78,999 proposal \text{dwt}$, originally sized to transit the Panama Canal locks.

Handysize

Smaller dry bulk carriers with a deadweight capacity between $30,000 proposal \text{dwt}$ and $39,999 proposal \text{dwt}$, capable of entering smaller ports with limited draft.

Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC)

A crude oil tanker with a deadweight capacity ranging between $200,000 proposal \text{DWT}$ and $320,000 proposal \text{DWT}$.

Ultra Large Crude Carrier (ULCC)

The largest classification of crude oil tankers, boasting a deadweight capacity between $320,000 proposal \text{DWT}$ and $550,000 proposal \text{DWT}$.

Suezmax

A liquid bulk tanker with a deadweight capacity between $120,000 proposal \text{DWT}$ and $200,000 proposal \text{DWT}$, sized for fully laden transit through the Suez Canal.

Aframax

Oil tankers (also classified as Long Range 2 or LR2 vessels) with a deadweight capacity ranging between $80,000 proposal \text{DWT}$ and $119,999 proposal \text{DWT}$.

Very Large Gas Carrier (VLGC)

The largest size category of liquefied gas carriers (LNG/LPG), possessing a volumetric capacity between $220,000 proposal \text{cbm}$ and $260,000 proposal \text{cbm}$.

Tramp Shipping

A vessel operating market without fixed schedules, regular ports of call, or set routes; ships trade worldwide according to spot market opportunities and negotiated freights.

Liner Shipping

A scheduled maritime transport service operating between fixed, predetermined ports on regular published departure schedules with fixed freight rate tariffs.

Derived Demand

The economic characteristic of shipping demand, reflecting that the demand for sea transport is generated indirectly by economic growth and trade requirements in other sectors.

Five Demand Effect Variables

The five key drivers of maritime transport demand: the world economy, seaborne commodity trades, the average haul, political events/exogenous factors, and transport cost.

Seaborne Trade Development Cycle

The economic progression of a country's trade profile through pre-industrial (importing necessities/exporting primary goods), transitional (heavy raw material imports), and mature phases (slowing industrial bulk imports, high value-add production).

Average Haul

The average distance traveled per ton of cargo across maritime routes, expressed in nautical miles and used alongside cargo volume to measure total demand.

Ton-miles

The standard unit measuring total maritime transport demand, calculated as the tonnage of cargo moved multiplied by the average haul distance in nautical miles.

Exogenous Factors in Shipping

Unpredictable, non-periodic external events—such as political crises, wars, weather/natural disasters, and technological shifts—that alter shipping demand and supply outside of internal market dynamics.

Impact of Wars on Tramp Market

Geopolitical conflicts decrease effective fleet supply (requisitioning, sinkings, crew shortages) and increase military transport demand, driving tramp freight rates up sharply.

Triple-E Class

A class of ultra-large containerships introduced by Maersk, designed specifically around economies of scale, lower sailing speeds, improved fuel efficiency, and reduced $\text{CO}_2$ emissions.