shipping Freight transport, also referred to as freight forwarding, is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ...

, the stowage factor indicates how many

cubic metre The cubic metre (in Commonwealth English and international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures) or cubic meter (in American English) is the unit of volume in the International System of Units (SI). Its symbol is m ...

s of space one

tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton in the United States to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the s ...

(or cubic feet of space one long ton) of a particular type of

cargo In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in cas ...

occupies in a

hold Hold may refer to: Physical spaces * Hold (compartment), interior cargo space * Baggage hold, cargo space on an airplane * Stronghold, a castle or other fortified place Arts, entertainment, and media * Hold (musical term), a pause, also called ...

of a

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's List of seas, seas and Ocean, oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. ...

.Stopford, M
Maritime Economics
Third Edition. Roudledge, 2009. Pages 575–576. It is calculated as the ratio of the stowage space required under normal conditions, including the stowage losses caused by the means of transportation and packaging, to the weight of the cargo.Stowage factor
Transport Information Service (TIS). The stowage factor can be used in

ship design A ship is a large vessel that travels the world's oceans and other navigable waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished from boats, ...

and as a reference to evaluate the efficiency of use of the cargo space on a ship.

Variability

The stowage factor varies from one type of

commodity In economics, a commodity is an economic goods, good, usually a resource, that specifically has full or substantial fungibility: that is, the Market (economics), market treats instances of the good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to w ...

to another — for example

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 f ...

has a stowage factor of 0.40 (m³/mt), meaning that the space needed by one tonne of ore is only one sixth of that required to stow one tonne of

woodchips Woodchips are small- to medium-sized pieces of wood formed by cutting or chipping larger pieces of wood such as trees, branches, logging residues, Tree stump, stumps, roots, and wood waste. Woodchips may be used as a biomass solid fuel and are r ...

that have a stowage factor of 2.5. This means that if a ship designed to carry woodchips is loaded with iron ore, only a small part of the hold capacity can be utilized, and a

bulk carrier A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially naval architecture, designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo—such as Grain trade, grain, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement—in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrie ...

designed to carry iron ore cannot be loaded to the maximum

draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...

with woodchips, leaving much of its

deadweight tonnage Deadweight tonnage (also known as deadweight; abbreviated to DWT, D.W.T., d.w.t., or dwt) or tons deadweight (DWT) is a measure of how much weight a ship can carry. It is the sum of the weights of cargo, fuel, fresh water Fresh water or ...

unutilized. Thus the stowage factor is taken into account in ship design when determining the size of cargo holds, and specialized ships such as ore carriers and

car carrier Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or usin ...

s are built for cargoes with a stowage factor that departs significantly from the average. The stowage factor also depends on the type of

packaging Packaging is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the process of designing, evaluating, and producing packages. Packaging can be described as a coo ...

, being the lowest for unpackaged

bulk cargo Bulk cargo is Product (business), product cargo that is transported packaging, unpackaged in large quantities. Description Bulk cargo refers to material in either liquid or granular, particulate (as a mass of relatively small solids) form, ...

. While most commonly used for dry bulk cargo, a stowage factor can also be calculated for liquid bulk cargo and other commodities such as

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 term ...

cars A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

. Stowage factors for several types of cargo are presented in the following table.

Stowage Factor (SF) Examples

Stowage Factor (SF) Example 1: Ship A
Deadweight Cargo Capacity (DWCC): 55,000 mtons
Grain Cubic Capacity: 70,000 m³ (2,470,000 ft³)
Cargo: 55,000 mtons of Bulk Phosphate
Bulk Phosphate Stowage Factor (SF) about 0.90 m³/ton (32 ft³/ton)
In fact, Ship A has space for 55,000 mtons on her holds
70,000/0.90 = 77,000 mtons or 2,470,000/32 = 77,000 mtons (rounded)
However, Ship A can only take 55,000 mtons in weight of Bulk Phosphate before Ship A loadline is submerged

Stowage Factor (SF) Example 2: Ship B
Deadweight Cargo Capacity (DWCC): 55,000 mtons
Grain Cubic Capacity: 70,000 m³ (2,470,000 ft³)
Cargo: 55,000 mtons of Barley
Barley Stowage Factor (SF) about 1.47 m³/ton (52 ft³/ton)
In fact, Ship B can lift 55,000 mtons
70,000/1.47= 47,500 mtons or 2,470,000/52 = 47,500 mtons (rounded)
However, Ship B can only take 47,500 mtons in weight of Barley before Ship B is full and no more space is available in the Ship B's holds

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stowage factor Maritime transport Logistics

Variability

Stowage Factor (SF) Examples

See also

References