Bulk cargo

A mini-bulker taking on cargo in Brest.

Bulk cargo is commodity cargo that is transported unpackaged in large quantities. This cargo is usually dropped or poured, with a spout or shovel bucket, as a liquid or as a mass of relatively small solids (e.g. grain, coal), into a bulk carrier ship's hold, railroad car, or tanker truck/trailer/semi-trailer body. Smaller quantities (still considered "bulk") can be boxed (or drummed) and palletised. Bulk cargo is classified as liquid or dry.

The Baltic Exchange is based in London and provides a range of indices benchmarking the cost of moving bulk commodities, dry and wet, along popular routes around the seas. Some of these indices are also used to settle Freight Futures, known as FFA's. The most famous of the Baltic indices is the Baltic Dry Indices, commonly called the BDI. This is a derived function of the Baltic Capesize index (BCI), Baltic Panamax index (BPI), Baltic Supramax index (BSI) and the Baltic Handysize index (BHSI). The BDI has been used as a bellwether for the global economy as it can be interpreted as an indicator of an increase or decrease in the amount of raw commodities countries are importing/exporting.

Dry bulk cargo ("dry" trades)

This heap of iron ore pellets will be used in steel production.

• Coal
• Grain (wheat, maize, rice, barley, oats, rye, sorghum, soybeans, etc.)
• Iron (ferrous & non-ferrous ores, ferroalloys, pig iron, scrap metal, pelletized taconite), etc.)
• Bauxite
• Wood chips
• Cement
• Chemicals (fertilizer, plastic granules & pellets, resin powder, synthetic fiber, etc.)
• Dry edibles (for animals or humans: alfalfa pellets, citrus pellets, livestock feed, flour, peanuts, raw or refined sugar, seeds, starches, etc.)
• Bulk minerals (sand & gravel, copper, limestone, salt, etc.)

Liquid bulk cargo ("wet" trades)

Non edible and dangerous liquids

• Petroleum
• Liquefied natural gas (LNG)
• Gasoline
• Dangerous chemicals

Liquid edibles and non dangerous liquids

• vegetable oil
• cooking oil
• fruit juices
• milk
• zinc ash
• etc.

DME 49328, a covered hopper owned and operated by the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad

Large ports specializing in bulk cargo

• Port of South Louisiana
• Port of Rotterdam
• Port of Vancouver

See also

A rotary car dumper

Bulk material handling Covered hopper Flexible intermediate bulk container (bigbag) Hopper car Lake freighter neo-bulk cargo

Rotary car dumper Selfdischarger Tank car Tank truck World's busiest port

References

• George, William (2005). Stability and Trim for the Ship's Officer. Centreville, MD: Cornell Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-87033-564-8. 
• Hayler, William B.; Keever, John M. (2003). American Merchant Seaman's Manual. Cornell Maritime Pr. ISBN 0-87033-549-9. 
• United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) (2006). Review of Maritime Transport, 2006. New York and Geneva: United Nations. http://www.unctad.org/en/docs/rmt2006_en.pdf. 
• United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) (2007). Review of Maritime Transport, 2007. New York and Geneva: United Nations. http://www.unctad.org/en/docs/rmt2007_en.pdf.