Transshipment, trans-shipment or transhipment is the

shipment 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 exte ...

goods In economics, goods are anything that is good, usually in the sense that it provides welfare or utility to someone. Alan V. Deardorff, 2006. ''Terms Of Trade: Glossary of International Economics'', World Scientific. Online version: Deardorffs ...

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 ...

to an intermediate destination, then to another destination. One possible reason for transshipment is to change the

means of transport Means of transport are transport facilities used to carry people or cargo. __NOTOC__ Examples of means of transport Space *Spacecraft Air *Aircraft *Unmanned aerial vehicle, Drone Water *Ships Land *Automobiles *Bicycles *Carriages *Pack ...

during the journey (e.g., from

ship transport Maritime transport (or ocean transport) or more generally waterborne transport, is the transport of people (passengers or goods (cargo) via waterways. Freight transport by watercraft has been widely used throughout recorded history, as it provi ...

road transport Road transport or road transportation is a type of transport using roads. Transport on roads can be roughly grouped into the transportation of goods and transportation of people. In many countries licensing requirements and safety regulations e ...

), known as

transloading Transloading, also known as cross-docking, is the process of transferring a shipment from one mode of transportation to another. It is most commonly employed when one mode cannot be used for the entire trip, such as when goods must be shipped in ...

. Another reason is to combine small shipments into a large shipment (consolidation), or the opposite: dividing a large shipment into smaller shipments (deconsolidation). Transshipment usually takes place in

transport hub A transport hub is a place where passengers and cargo are exchanged between vehicles and/or between mode of transport, transport modes. Public transport hubs include train station, railway stations, metro station, rapid transit stations, bus ...

s. Much international transshipment also takes place in designated

customs area Customs is an authority or Government agency, agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling International trade, the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out ...

s, thus avoiding the need for customs checks or duties, otherwise a major hindrance for efficient transport. An item handled (from the shipper's point of view) as a single movement is not generally considered transshipped, even if it changes from one mode of transport to another at several points. Previously, it was often not distinguished from

, since each leg of such a trip was typically handled by a different shipper. Transshipment is normally fully legal and an everyday part of world trade. However, it can also be a method used to disguise intent, as is the case with

illegal logging Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase, or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, or from a p ...

smuggling Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. More broadly, soc ...

, or grey-market goods.

Transshipment at container ports or terminals

The transshipment of

at a container port or terminal can be defined as the number (or proportion) of containers, possibly expressed in TEU, of the total container flow that is handled at the port or terminal and, after temporary storage in the stack, transferred to another ship to reach their destinations. The exact definition of transshipment may differ between ports, mostly depending on the inclusion of inland water transport (barges operating on canals and rivers to the

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 associated wi ...

). The definition of transshipment may: *include only seaborne transfers (a change to another international deep-sea

container ship A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermodal ...

); or *include both seaborne and inland waterway ship transfers (sometimes called ''water-to-water'' transshipment). Most coastal container ports in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

have a large proportion of riverside "transshipment" to the hinterland. In both cases, a single, unique, transshipped container is counted twice in the port performance, since it is handled twice by the waterside container cranes (separate unloading from arriving ship A, waiting in the stack, and loading onto departing ship B).

Transshipment at sea

Transshipment at sea is done by transferring goods from one ship to another.

Fisheries

In global fisheries transshipment is used to transfer catch to refrigerated cargo vessels that also supply fishing vessels with fuel, food, equipment and personnel allowing them to stay at sea for months or even years. This guarantees that fish quickly find their way to the market without a decrease in quality. Since transshipment at sea encounters often happen on the high seas, in regions with poor regulation and oversight, they are also used to disguise criminal activities such as

illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) is an issue around the world. Fishing industry observers believe IUU occurs in most fisheries, and accounts for up to 30% of total catches in some important fisheries. Illegal fishing takes p ...

forced labor Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, or violence, including death or other forms of ...

human trafficking Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. This exploitation may include forced labor, sexual slavery, or oth ...

and drug smuggling. Several states and regional fishery management organizations have therefore prohibited the practice for certain vessel types or issued a complete ban within their zone of jurisdiction.

Bulk products

Transshipment at sea also occurs in the export of bulk products. Choosing to transship reduces capital costs for port developers and can overcome problems arising from limited access to deep water. Loading barges typically specify 4 to 7 meters of draft. Since at least 2011, transshipment has been used in northern Australia in the export of bulk minerals including

bauxite Bauxite () is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)), and diaspore (α-AlO(OH) ...

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 ...

and

potash Potash ( ) includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water- soluble form.

from mines in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

and the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

Transshipment at a break-of-gauge

At a break-of-gauge, cargo is transloaded from

boxcar A boxcar is the North American (Association of American Railroads, AAR) and South Australian Railways term for a Railroad car#Freight cars, railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to carry freight. The boxcar, while not the simpl ...

s or

covered goods wagon A covered goods wagon or covered goods van (United Kingdom) is a railway goods wagon which is designed for the transportation of moisture-susceptible goods and therefore fully enclosed by sides and a fixed roof. They are often referred to simply ...

s on one track to wagons on another track of a different rail gauge, or else

are transloaded from flatcars on one track to flatcars on another track of a different gauge.

Notes

References

* E. Rojas. "MCS Observers on board at-sea Transshipment Vessels." In: ''APO Mail Buoy'' Vol. 10 (3). pp. 8–9. 2007. Freight transport