Dry Bulker Business

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Outline of Services

Dry Bulkers Designed for Specific Needs

There are various sizes and types of dry bulkers according to the volume of cargo to be transported and facilities
at ports of call.

Capesize bulkers, the largest dry bulkers in service, can transport various cargoes including iron ore and coal. They got the name "Capesize" because they could not pass through the Panama Canal before its expansion in 2016 and had to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans via the Cape of Good Hope. Among Capesize vessels, the largest class is called very large ore carriers (VLOCs). Overall, these ships are massive, designed to maximize their capacity to load and transport iron ore, which has a high specific gravity, but the holds are narrow to boost the efficiency of loading and discharging.

Panamax bulkers are the largest ships capable of transiting the pre-expansion Panama Canal. They measure up to 900ft (about 274m) long and 106ft (about 32m) wide. They are well suited to transport grain shipped from ports on the Gulf of Mexico to Asia through the Panama Canal, as do Handymax bulkers.

Handymax and Handysize bulkers are equipped with loading/unloading equipment, allowing them to load and discharge cargo at ports that do not have their own facilities. The "Handy" in their names refers to the convenience of being able to load and unload at virtually any port. These bulkers transport a variety of dry bulk cargoes such as grain, minor metals, and steel products, in smaller lots than Capesize and Panamax bulkers.

In addition, there are various specialized bulkers designed for specific cargoes, such as woodchip carriers, cement carriers, and heavy-lift carriers. There are also open-hatch vessels, which have box-shaped cargo holds and wide hatches, allowing them to efficiently load, transport, and unload semi-finished products such as pulp, steel products, and aluminum ingots. These vessels are also specially designed so that the cargo can be loaded on top of the hatch or deck.

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Dry Bulker Sizes

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Size Category and Main Transport Cargoes

Size Category	Deadweight tonnage (DWT)	Main Transport Cargoes
Capesize bulkers	180,000	iron ore, coal
Panamax bulkers	82,000	iron ore, coking coal, thermal coal, grains, etc.
Supramax bulkers	58,000	thermal coal, grains, salt, cement, steel products, etc.
Handysize bulkers	38,000	steel products, cement, grains, ore, etc.
Open-hatch vessels	63,000	pulp and paper, aluminum, steel products, etc.
Woodchip carriers	54,000	woodchips, soybean meal, etc.

* Other combinations of size and cargo are possible on a voyage-by-voyage basis.

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