The merchant shipping industry is one of the largest and most lucrative in the world. We all rely on this industry to provide us with many of the products which play a pivotal role in our day to day lives.

As we have previously explored, products are stored within large shipping containers and transported around the world until they reach their destination. But what happens when the size of the cargo which requires to be shipped, is larger than the actual container? Obviously the size and weight constrictions within the shipping industry are much more lenient in comparison to transportation via land or air, yet there are some situations where even this are not enough.

In these circumstances, then the products can be transported via platforms, open top containers and flat racks which maximise the area available. Additionally, there are certain types of merchant ships termed “roll-on / roll-off” vessels which employ ramp systems and easily allow the containers to be placed onboard the ship and unloaded following the journey. These are most commonly utilised during fairly short distances of transportation, due to the fact that they are not able to hold the high volumes of containers which can be accommodated on crane based ships.

RORO’s place at the heart of the merchant shipping industry is assured, as their high speeds and adaptability render them indispensable.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 at 5:34 pm and is filed under Shipping containers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.