Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 1
Body ................................................................................................................................................ 1
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 2
References ...................................................................................................................................... 2
Introduction
Transport is the movement of people and goods across the surface. Therefor maritime
transport is a waterborne transport that is by waterways. For example, moving from Dover to
Calais by ferry. Elements of maritime transport are infrastructure, traffic, human factor,
communication and vehicle. Maritime transport refers to a means of transport where goods
(or people) are transported via sea routes. In some cases, maritime transport can encompass
pre- and post-shipping activities.
Body
One of the elements of maritime transport is infrastructure. Infrastructure consist of way and
terminal. Way is the passage used by maritime transport which is waterborne. Which means
by waterborne is the use of rivers, sea or oceans. Way have also other components such as
such as depth, currents, winds (historically significant). Those components have some
constrains and the constrains can be overcome by routing scheduling.
Terminal is a place of interchange, therefore terminals of maritime are Ports which are gate
ways. A port is usually regarded as a terminal for ships, but in fact it is also a terminal for
trains, roads, pipelines, and aircraft. Example of ports in the southern Africa, we have Port
Beira in Mozambique and Richard bay in South Africa.
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Human as a factor it is break down in to sub branches which are operator and driver.
Operators are those who owns the ship. Drivers of ship are Captain and Controller. Though
maritime move on water and they have their own routes. As I have stated in constrains of
Maritime that they need routing and switching so the Captain must know the routing process
of selecting the possible route from the list they have through tracking. Example evade
Bermuda triangles.
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Vehicle is also one of the elements of which it consists of motive power and carrying unit.
Every mode of transport need motive power which is vehicle must be driven and the choice
of a propulsion unit depends upon the strength of the vehicle, the speed required and the
available fuel. The average speed of ships is about 15 knots (1 knot = 1 marine mile = 1,853
meters), which is 28 km per hour. Under such circumstances, a ship would travel about 575
km per day.
For Carrying capacity, ship owners, the
rationale for larger ships implies reduced crew, fuel, berthing, insurance, and maintenance
costs. The largest tankers (ULCC) are around 500,000 dwt (dominant size between 250,000
and 350,000 dwt), while the largest dry bulk carriers are around 350,000 dwt (dominant size
between 100,000 and 150,000 dwt). The only remaining constraints on ship size are the
capacity of ports, harbours, and canals to accommodate them.
Traffic is one of the core elements because we can not call it transport when there is no
moved goods or people. Goods transported by ships are of different forms which are bulk
cargo and break-bulk cargo. Bulk cargo. Refers to freight, both dry and liquid, that is not
packaged, such as minerals (oil, coal, iron ore, bauxite) and grains. It often requires the use of
specialized ships such as oil tankers as well as specialized transhipment and storage facilities.
Break-bulk cargo. Refers to general cargo that has been packaged in some way with the use
of bags, boxes, drums, and particularly containers. This cargo tends to have numerous
origins, destinations, and clients. Break-Bulk also known as general cargo which are vessels
designed to carry non-bulk cargoes. The traditional ships were less than 10,000 dwt, because
of extremely slow loading and off-loading. Roll on-Roll off (RORO) vessels, which are
designed to allow cars, trucks, and trains to be loaded directly on board. Originally appearing
as ferries, these vessels are used on deep-sea trades and are much larger than the typical ferry.
The largest is the car carriers that transport vehicles from assembly plants to the main
markets. Their capacity is measured in the amount of parking space they can offer to the
vehicles they carry, mostly measured in lane meters.
Passenger traffic is now a small niche market for maritime transport, mostly supplied by
cruise shipping. In a contemporary setting, passenger vessels can be divided into two
categories: passenger ferries, where people are carried across relatively small bodies of water
(such as a river or a strait) in a shuttle-type service, and cruise ships, where passengers are
taken on vacation trips of various duration, usually over several days. The former tends to be
smaller and faster vessels. Example of passenger ferries, crossing Zambezi river between
Zambia and Botswana.
As for documentation there are many documents that need to be prepared by the various
parties involved, in order to affect a shipment. There is Exporter who prepare Commercial
Invoice, Packing List, Certificate of Origin or similar certificates, Shipping Instructions for
the Bill of Lading Freight. There are also forwarders who prepare Delivery Notes,
Forwarders Cargo Receipt, Shipping Instructions for the Bill of Lading, Marine Insurance,
Cargo inspection certificates, hazardous packing declarations. Clearing Agents do prepare
Customs Documentation, Port Documentation, Duty and VAT exemption documents where
applicable docs1. Shipping Lines or their agents do prepare Booking confirmation, container
release, prepare or generate Bills of Lading, Manifest, Manifest Correctors, Telex Release,
Freight Invoices, Stowage plans, Loading Lists, Dangerous goods manifest, Out of gauge
manifests and at the discharge port, they will prepare Arrival Notification, Delivery Orders,
Discharge lists, Freight invoices.
Conclusion
Maritime transportation is dominated by freight because there is no other means to move large
amounts of cargo over long distances at a low cost. Maritime transport is one of the dangerous modes
of transport so it needs more extra care so that do the process correct and have a compliment
References
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2
Jean-Paul Rodrigue (Hofstra University)
Hariesh Manaadiar.
Hoyle, B.S.