The importance of a container seal

From embossed lead wire seals to plastic and metal strip seals to plastic and metal bullet seals to padlocks everything has been used so far to safeguard the precious cargo that is shipped in containers..

Depending on the shipping line or the exporter and the level of safeguard required, many containers carry any of the above types of seals.. But foremost importance is that a seal be present on the container and that it is put in the right place..

What would be the right place..?? A container has two lock rods on each door.. The left door closes first and then the right door.. So the effective place where the seal needs to be put is on the right door as that has to be opened first.. Either on one or both of the lock rods.. If required you can put an additional seal(s) on the left door, but that really doesnt matter unless the cargo cannot be taken out through one door..

Example pic of a container door with lock rods and bullet seal..

Receivers of the container must make sure that the seal number shown on the bill of lading/manifest and present on the container when they receive it are exactly the same including if there is a prefix or something on the seal.. It is possible that XYZ 123456 and just 123456 could be two different seals..

If the bill of lading/manifest and the physical seal dont match, they should IMMEDIATELY advise the shipping line of the same and of any possible claim situation.. It is also advisable to do a joint survey of the container alongwith the shipping line..

Parts of a bill of lading – Part 4 – the final one

The last part of the bill of lading is generally the area where the Freight charges are reflected..

Barring a few countries like Brazil, most of the other countries do not insist on the freight charges being shown on the bill of lading..

The only field that is generally filled in this area is the Freight Payable at which could either be the Port of Load (Prepaid) or Port of Discharge or Final Destination (Collect) or any other port (Elsewhere).. In the case of Freight paid at a destination different from either the Port of Load or Port of Discharge or Final Destination (ex : Shipment from Durban to Shanghai but freight paid in London), the port of discharge agents must check and receive confirmation from the other port that the freight amounts have been paid in full prior to releasing the cargo to the receiver..

The other important fields in this area are

• Place of Issue – is the place where the original bill of lading is signed and released (issued) to the shipper or his agent
• Date of Issue – is the date on which the original bill of lading is signed and released to the shipper or his agent.. This date in general would be on or after the containers or cargo is actually on board of the ship and should be the same date or later than the shipped on board date..
• Number of originals – is the number of original bills of lading that the client requires the line to release for that particular shipment.. Standard is 3 originals.. If one of the three originals are duly discharged then the other two are deemed null and void..

Then there is also the attachment sheet to the bill of lading.. This is used when the details shown in the description is too large to fit within the space provided on the original bill of lading stationery.. This attached sheet forms part of the bill of lading and should carry all the stamps and endorsements on the original bill of lading and should clearly show the bill of lading number and vessel and voyage information..

All information covered in the articles related to the parts of the bill of lading are general information and each shipping line have their own specifications and peculiarities with regards to their bill of lading stationery and the information required..

Parts of a bill of lading – Part 3

Part 3 of the parts of a bill of lading.. Here we shall cover the cargo particulars of the shipment..

In most bills of lading for containerised shipments, you will see the notation PARTICULARS FURNISHED BY SHIPPER – CARRIER NOT RESPONSIBLE..

Marks & Numbers – Marks & Numbers are important information in a shipment.. The shipper marks his packages with some information identifying the shipment so that the consignee can know what the shipment is.. The marks and numbers can have any of below :

• the consignees name and address
• the purchase order number
• the number of the package – 1 of 32 etc for easy identification

or of course have any logos etc of the shipper..

Marks & Numbers play a much more important role in a breakbulk shipment or an LCL/Groupage shipment rather than a full container shipment.. In these cases it is prudent for the shipper to mark the packages in such a way so that identification of the same is easy, as in a breakbulk or groupage shipment there are many packages belonging to many shippers..

In the case of shipping lines that carry only containers, they normally show this field as Marks & Numbers/Container Nos. so that the container numbers and seal numbers are recorded here with or without marks and numbers..

No. and kind of Packages : Here the number of packages that are packed in the container or loaded on the ship as breakbulk are recorded.. Example : 16 crates & 23 pallets or 16 cartons in 2 pallets etc..

Description of Packages & Goods : This area is used to describe exactly what cargo is being loaded in the container or onboard the ship.. In the case of containerised cargo, it is usually reflected as :

“22 packages STC (or) Said To Contain 15000 tubes of Toothpaste and 500 cartons of Cigarettes”

Below the description, generally other information like Nett Weight, Import Licence Number, L/C Number, Freight conditions etc are also mentioned..

For containerised cargo, it is VERY IMPORTANT that the shipping line shows the SAID TO CONTAIN clause on the bill of lading.. The reason for this is that the shipping line does not get involved in the packaging of the container and as such does not know what and how many are packed in the container by the shipper.. The shipping line goes by what is declared by the shipper and the bill of lading is issued as such.. In a lot of cases, this is further covered by a stamp SHIPPERS, LOAD, STOW AND COUNT that is endorsed by the shipping line on the bill of lading..

Gross Weight : This is the weight of the cargo that is packed in the container or loaded on board.. This is generally only the weight of the cargo + the weight of the packaging and does not include the tare weight of the container..

Measurement : This is the volumetric calculation of the cargo that is packed in the container.. The total volume of the cargo in the container is shown here.. How the calculation of the volume is made can be read in the article http://shippinginsouthafrica.wordpress.com/2009/02/20/how-to-calculate-cbm-freight-ton/..

Parts of a Bill of Lading – Part 2

Part 2 of the parts of a bill of lading – in case you missed Part 1 – click HERE to view it.. In this article we will cover the details relating to the voyage..

Pre-Carriage by : Assume that there is an inland point which is connected to the mainland port by means of a feeder (connecting) vessel, the name of that vessel is shown here.. Example – Maputo to Durban.. In some cases if the pre-carriage is by land or rail means that can also be mentioned here, however this is is very very rarely displayed here..

Place of Receipt : This is the place where the cargo is handed over by the shipper or his agent to the carrier (shipping line).. This is very important in terms of the contract of carriage between the shipper and the shipping line.. If this area is filled, it is assumed that the carrier has done the movement from here to the Port of Loading and if there any incidents, damages etc to the container or cargo between the Place of Receipt and Port of Loading, the liability will be that of the carrier.. So the shipping line must be careful not to show anything in the Place of Receipt if they are not actually doing the movement..

Port of Loading : This is the place from which the container or cargo is loaded by the carrier onto the nominated Ocean Vessel..

Ocean Vessel/Voyage : This is the name of the vessel and the voyage number that carries the container or cargo from the (mainland) Port of Loading (example Durban) to the Port of Discharge (example Mumbai).. Remember that the combination of vessel and voyage will be unique and never repeated (well almost never)..

Port of Discharge : This is the place at which the container or cargo is discharged by the carrier from the nominated Ocean Vessel..

Place of Delivery : This is the final destination of the container or cargo.. If this area is filled (example : ICD Bengaluru), it means that the carrier has undertaken to move the container or cargo from the Port of Discharge to the Place of Delivery.. Again as in the case of Place of Receipt, the shipping line must be careful when showing anything in this field as then, it will be liable to deliver the container or cargo in good order and condition to this place of delivery.. If there is a Place of Delivery shown in the B/L, generally the carrier does not allow the client (merchant) to take delivery of the container or cargo at the Port of Discharge and move it to the Place of Delivery, reason being that if anything happens to the container or cargo enroute to the Place of Delivery, the carrier may still be held liable..

Parts of a Bill of Lading – Part 1

There are different part to a bill of lading that needs to be filled up.. We will discuss the relevance of each part..

In this article we will discuss the address and reference details.. Please bear in mind that this “generic” information and does not refer to any line in particular as each line have their own format and setup..

Shipper – is the name and address details of the shipper who is shipping the cargo.. This may or may not be the actual owner or manufacturer of the cargo, but could also be a trader or freight forwarder depending on the type of bill of lading that is issued..

Consignee – is the name and address details of the consignee who is receiving the cargo or is the actual buyer.. This may or may not be the actual owner or recipient of the cargo as it could be a bank or trader or forwarder depending on the type of bill of lading that is issue.. However, being named as the consignee on the bill of lading also comes with the risk and responsibility of being held accountable for many issues such as non-clearance of cargoes, late clearance, claims etc..

Notify – is the name and address details of the person who generally should be notified of the arrival of the cargo.. Depending on the bill of lading that is issued this could be the actual buyer or receiver of the goods, clearing and forwarding agent or the trader.. Generally the notice of cargo arrival is to be sent to this notify party..

Bill of Lading Number – is the unique number provided to the shipment covered under a specific bill of lading.. This is allocated by the shipping line and must be quoted by the client for any queries, sailing info, arrival info, claims etc..

Reference Numbers – this space can be used to update any reference numbers specific to the client or the freight forwarder which they will use to trace their shipments..

Carriers Agents – here the details of the agents at discharge port is usually recorded by the shipping line so that the destination agent of the client/forwarder can contact the shipping lines agents to query the status of the shipment or go for release etc..

Balance in the next article.. Stay tuned..

Difference between Demurrage & Detention

People often get confused by these two words Demurrage and Detention.. Well then, what is the difference..?? When dealt with in the context of containerised cargo, simply put,

* Demurrage relates to cargo
* Detention relates to equipment

Elaboration : Imports – A container is discharged off a ship on the 2nd July – Consignee approaches the shipping line to take delivery of the cargo around 12th July.. Working off a standard 7 free days from date of discharge, the line free days (different to port free days) expires on the 8th July.. So, the line will charge the consignee DEMURRAGE for 4 days from 9th to 12th July at the rate fixed by the line..

After the full container has been picked up by the client, for example if they take another 7 days to return the empty container, then it is known as DETENTION which again will be charged at the rate fixed by the line..

So basically before unpacking of the cargo Demurrage is charged and after the cargo is unpacked till the time the empty is returned to the lines nominated depot, Detention is charged..

Exports : In the case of exports, normally lines give about 5 free days within which the shipper has to pick up the empty, pack it and return it full to the port.. In case of delays more than 5 days, the line charges Detention (generally same tariff as import detention) for the days that the empty is kept with the client as empty or full..

Once the container is packed and say for example the shipper is unable to ship the same due to any reason, then the Demurrage will be charged at the rate fixed by the line till the full container is shipped out..

Container Stowage Planning and how it works

This is a topic of great importance and is my favourite activity in the whole realm of shipping operations..

What is Stowage planning – simply put – it is the act of allocating space to containers on board of a container ship in the order of the discharge ports..

Tools required :

1. the scheduled list of ports that the ship will be calling at, in the order of rotation
2. a summary of the number of containers – size/type/weight of containers per port that are planned to be loaded on the ship
3. a summary of the number of hazardous, reefer and oog containers per port that are planned to be loaded on the ship
4. list and summary of containers that are on board after discharge of the containers at your port.. for the purposes of this article, we will consider this port to be Durban..

Definitions :

Profile – is the cross sectional view of the entire ship covering both the deck and under-deck of the ship..

Bayplan – is the complete cross sectional view of the entire ship covering both the deck and under-deck of the ship, but displayed or printed per bay

Bay – each container vessel is split into compartments which are termed as Bay and depending on the size of the ship it will proceed from 01 to 40 (for example) where Bay 01 is the bay towards the Bow (the front) of the ship and Bay 40 is the Stern (the back) of the ship.. Odd numbered bays (1,3,5 etc) means that it is a 20’ stow and Even numbered bay (2,4,6 etc) means that it is a 40’ stow..

Confused..?? Look at the below picture.. I have used Bay 09/11 (10) and Bay 13/15 (14) as an example here.. What you are seeing here is the cross section of the ship both on deck and under deck.. Each of the small square block represents a 20’ unit space..

Row is the position where the container is placed across the width of the ship.. If you refer to the above diagram, the Row numbers are circled in Red.. It starts with 01 in the centre and progresses outwards with odd numbers on the right and even numbers on the left..

Tier denotes at which level the container is placed – basically how high the container is stacked on board.. In the above diagram, the Tier numbers are circled in Blue..

Hatch Covers (the dark intermittent lines in the above picture) are the covers that separate the deck from the under-deck.. The area above the line is called the deck (which is generally visible to us when we look at the ship) and the area below the line is called under-deck (which is not visible to us from outside the ship)..

The planning is mainly done on a document called a “profile” which can be viewed here.. The profile provides the full cross section of a ship at one glance.. The enlarged version of this will be the actual bay itself.. Currently, the stowage planning is mostly done via computers..

Although the computers do most of the work, the basis on which they work is the tried and tested methods that have been followed for many years around..

• the list of containers that are to be loaded on board are segregated by destination..
• space is allocated to each of the containers
  • • firstly in the order of destination – the farthest destination at the bottom and the next port of call right on top
    • secondly in the order of weight – the heaviest boxes at the bottom and lightest at the top

For reasons of lashing and securing containers, a 40’ container can sit on top of two 20’s, but two 20’s cannot sit on top of 40’ (unless it is under deck and surrounded by other containers or within cell guides)..

In the above profile i have used various alphabets and colors..

1. F for Felixstowe
2. A for Antwerp
3. Ae for Antwerp Empty
4. H for Hamburg
5. L for Le Havre
6. R for Rotterdam
7. X to indicate that its a 40’ contr..

The rotation for this vsl is Felixstowe, Antwerp, Le Havre, Hamburg and Rotterdam.. So as you can see, Felixstowe containers are stacked right on top of other containers as this will be the first port of call after Durban.. And Rotterdam will be the last port of call hence it is right at the bottom of the heap.. In this fashion the entire ship is filled with the containers that are to be loaded at each load port while also taking into account the containers that are ALREADY present on board from the previous ports..

If you notice, there is a container in stow position 130612 (Bay 13, Row 06, Tier 12 – for further info on how to read the bay plan, please read my other article http://shippinginsouthafrica.wordpress.com/2009/03/31/identifying-a-stow-position/).. Lets assume that this container was wrongly stowed or a restow was requested at a later stage to now discharge this in Felixstowe..

In order to reach this container, all containers above it on deck (8 containers to Antwerp and 4 contrs to Le Havre) must be “restowed” (taken off the ship and landed on the wharf side and put back on board once this box is taken out).. Then the hatch cover has to be opened to reach this one container.. As you can imagine, this involves considerable cost and wastage of time for the ship..

So to avoid these costs and wastage of time, it is highly imperative that the right destination, right weight, and haz info if any is accurately passed onto the ship..

Each of the bays have deck stress or tier weight which is the maximum allowed weight that each of the tier/row can carry as per the design of the ship.. For example if there are about 4 containers in a tier each weighing 26 tons, it may not be possible to accommodate all 4 in one tier as this might affect stability due to the heavy nature of the cargo.. However, if there are 5 tiers of empty containers as shown in Bay 15, it might be possible to load.. These calculations will be performed by the computer itself and it will show up as errors..

Some of the most commonly used software for ships planning are CASP and Bulko.. These use the BAPLIE file format structured by UNEDIFACT..

Identifying a stow position

I am not sure if you have noticed, but some of the people in the industry can identify where a container has been stowed on board of a ship just by reading the stow position (also known as cell position) and also whether it is a 20’ or a 40’ container that is stowed there.. How they do this..?? Its simple really..

090482 is an example of a stow position.. This is basically divided into 3 parts

09 / 04 / 82 – where 09 is the bay, 04 is the row and 82 is the tier – translated in English it means :-

Bay = each container vessel is split into compartments which are termed as Bay and depending on the size of the ship it will proceed from 01 to 40 (for example) where Bay 01 is the bay towards the Bow (the front) of the ship and Bay 40 is the Stern (the back) of the ship.. Odd numbered bays (1,3,5 etc) means that it is a 20’ stow and Even numbered bay (2,4,6 etc) means that it is a 40’ stow..

Confused..?? Look at the below picture.. I have used Bay 09/11 (10) as an example here.. What you are seeing here is the cross section of the ship both on deck and under deck.. Each of the small square block represents a 20’ unit space.. The bold lines represent the hatch covers that separate the deck (is the part where containers are loaded, that is visible to us when you see the ship) and under deck (which is not generally visible when you are standing outside the ship)..

Row is the position where the container is placed across the width of the ship.. If you refer to the above diagram, the Row numbers are circled in Red.. It starts with 01 in the centre and progresses outwards with odd numbers on the right and even numbers on the left..

Tier denotes at which level the container is placed – basically how high the container is stacked on board.. In the above diagram, the Tier numbers are circled in Blue..

Getting back to our stow position 090482 now – in the above diagram you will see that stow has an alphabet R – which i have used for the port of Rotterdam (each line, vessel or chief officer have their own alphabets for the ports).. So what i am saying here is that in stow position 090482 there is 20’ container that is stowed for discharge at Rotterdam..

So when you see a stow position as above you will know

09 = bay number and container is a 20’ (because its an odd number).. If it shows for example 10 then the container is a 40’..

04 = row number

82 = tier number which denotes that this is a 20’ container which is stowed ON DECK.. Usually ON DECK tier number starts from 80 and increases by 2 per tier, so it will be 80, 82, 84, 86 etc.. If the tier number shows 02,04,06 etc then its stowed UNDER DECK..

Lets look at a couple of scenarios from the above diagram..

Scenario 1 = 090482 is a 20’ container stowed ON DECK on Bay 09, Row 04 and Tier 82 – container is going to R for Rotterdam..

Scenario 2 = 110482 is also a 20’ container stowed ON DECK on Bay 11, Row 04 and Tier 82 which is basically the adjacent bay to the Rotterdam container and this container is going to L for Le Havre..

Scenario 3 = 090102 – which is a 20’ container stowed UNDER DECK on Bay 09, Row 01 and Tier 02 which is bottom most tier and this container is going to D for Dublin..

Scenario 4 = 100484 – is a 40’ container in stowed ON DECK on Bay 10, Row 04 and Tier 84 and this container is going to F for Felixstowe.. This container is basically sitting on TOP of the Rotterdam and Le Havre containers.. Since this is a 40’ container and sitting across both 9 and 11 bays , this bay is given the number 10.. The container is shown as sitting on 9 but the corresponding slot on 11 is marked with an X which means that this slot is NOT available for placing another container because there is a 40’ container already there..

For reasons of lashing and securing containers, a 40’ container can sit on top of two 20’s, but two 20’s cannot sit on top of 40’ (unless under deck and surrounded by other containers or within cell guides)

So this is how a stow position is coined and how you identify whether a container is a 20’ or 40’ and whether it is stowed under deck or on deck just by reading the stow position provided..

The Ten largest shipping companies

Hello all, found this interesting article about the ten largest container shipping companies and thought i would share with you.. Very interesting indeed.. Have a look at http://gcaptain.com/maritime/blog/the-ten-largest-container-shipping-companies-visualized/

Container Service Types

There are different types of containerised service types available.. 

FCL : Full Container Load – this is when the full container is used by a single customer for his cargo.. FCL containers are usually packed and unpacked by the client at his premises at the origin and destination.. The client takes responsibility, liablity for the packing and condition of the cargo packed in the FCL container..

LCL : Less than Container Load – this is when the same container is used for cargoes belonging to multiple shippers and consignees.. The clients deliver their cargo to the lines packing station (CFS – Container Freight Station) and the line then packs the delivered cargo on behalf of the client.. In the case of LCL containers, the shipping line takes responsibility and liability for the packing, condition and delivering of the cargo.. 

In some countries for ex South Africa – there is no concept of LCL containers..

GROUPAGE : Similar to LCL with the only difference that these containers, cargo packing etc are controlled by a Groupage operator instead of the shipping lines in the case of LCL containers.. The Groupage operator books the container with the shipping line as their cargo depending on how much cargo they have (20′ or 40′).. Once the cargo is packed, they issue their own House Bills to their clients and collect the Master Bill of lading from the shipping line.. Also known as Consolidation..

An additional aspect to consider here is that sometimes these terms are considered as Terms of Shipment as well :

FCL/FCL – One shipper => One consignee

FCL/LCL – One shipper => Multiple consignees

LCL/FCL – Multiple consignees => One consignee

LCL/LCL – Multiple shippers => Multiple consignees

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