Author Topic: coaster or not ?  (Read 2813 times)

Offline portagent

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coaster or not ?
« on: October 07, 2005, 06:06:17 PM »
Dear all,

I must confess that every time I'm going to upload a photo of a "smaller" vessel I hestite were to place it: either coaster or gen.cargo.

Taking Lloyds register as the bible for description of ships, even those we consider as coasters are gen.cargo vessels. Coasters do not only sail along the coasts, but are also trading as deepsea vessels. There are surely a lot of members who have sailed on coasters for example across the Atlantic, via Suez- or Panama-canal to far away destinations.  

On the other hand, none of us would consider MSC's
"MSC MEE MAY" (GT 16.660) as a coaster, while nowadays she is trading in coastal waters only (UK->Benelux->Germany v.v.).

As I see it, coasters can only be considered as such, if they are allowed by classification society/authorities to sail within coastal waters - otherwise they should be treated as (deepsea)gen.cargo vessels. As long as neither LR nor Equasis nor MaritmeData show any hint in this respect, shall keep on hesitating.

Appreciate your comments.
dead slow ahead !  :-)
best regards, Klaus

Offline Niall Kelly

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Re: coaster or not ?
« Reply #1 on: October 10, 2005, 11:22:59 AM »
I have a couple of problems in classifying ships. One is the same as yours - is it a coaster or not? The other one I have difficulty with is bulk carriers. I find it's not always easy to tell. Is a smallish geared vessel a general cargo ship or a bulk carrier? I suppose Equasis can tell me, but on occasion I don't agree with them  :-)
Niall Kelly

Offline Phil English

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Re: coaster or not ?
« Reply #2 on: October 10, 2005, 12:55:46 PM »
Ship type categories are always subject to definitional interpretation. For example, a product tanker can theoretically carry crude oil and a chemical tanker can also carry products. You also get situations where some tankers are carrying non-oil cargoes such as water or wine, but they can still be classed as an 'oil tanker' by class societies.

General cargo ships can be 'tween decked or single decked, but large single deckers are generally designed for bulk cargoes and are termed 'bulk carriers' Small box-hold single deckers are equally suitable for bulk cargoes, containers and, if they are heavily geared, project cargoes. So you could find, for example, a 5000 dwt box hold single decker being described by different people as a 'general cargo ship' multi-purpose container vessel' 'mini-bulker' or 'heavy lift ship'. If it trades only coastwise it could even be described as a 'coaster'. Each type would be correct, it just depends on your own definition and interpretation.

Phil

 

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