Feeder vessels or feeder ships are medium-size freight

ships A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...

. In general, a feeder designates a seagoing vessel with an average capacity of . Feeders collect

shipping container A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated boxes. In the context of ...

s from different ports and transport them to central

container terminal A container port or container terminal is a facility where cargo containers are transshipped between different transport vehicles, for onward transportation. The transshipment may be between container ships and land vehicles, for example train ...

s where they are loaded to bigger vessels, or for further transport into the hub port's

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 ...

. In that way the smaller vessels feed the larger liners, which carry thousands of containers. Over the years, feeder lines have been established by organizations transporting containers over a predefined route on a regular basis. Feeder ships are often run by companies that also specialize in

short sea shipping The modern terms short-sea shipping (sometimes unhyphenated), marine highway, and motorways of the sea, and the more historical terms coastal trade, coastal shipping, coasting trade, and coastwise trade, all encompass the movement of cargo and pas ...

. These companies not only ship freight to and from major ports like

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte (river), Rotte'') is the second largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the Prov ...

for further shipment, but also carry containers between smaller ports, for example, between terminals located on the north-west European seaboard and ports situated in the Baltic sea.

Feeder Class

Container ships are distinguished into seven major size categories: small feeder, feeder, feedermax, Panamax, post-Panamax, new Panamax and ultra-large.MAN Diesel, 2009, p.6. Container ships under 3,000 TEU are generally called feeders.

References

Ship types {{ship-type-stub