Unit 9

SHIPPING

Definition: A ship is any large floating vessel capable of crossing open waters, as opposed to a boat,
which is generally a smaller craft.
The term formerly was applied to sailing vessels having three or more masts; in modern times it usually
demotes a vessel of more than 500 tone of displacement. Submersible ships are generally called boats
regardless of their size.
Shipping is a highly competitive industry serving the needs of international trade.
1. History of shipping
Commercial shipping probably
began in the Mediterranean Sea
where the merchants of Phoenicia
owned ships and traded widely.
Ancient Greece and Roman Empire
adopted many of their practices.
Later, in the Middle Ages, the
merchants of Venice carried on and
further refined these practices. Even
today, commercial shipping practices associated with marine insurance and the carriage of goods can still
be traced to those early roots.
From the 15th to 18th centuries, deep-sea shipping was closely linked to colonial trade, especially that
of the Spanish Empire, the Portuguese Empire, the Dutch Empire and the British Empire and to the
growth of the great enterprises like the Hudsons Bay Company and the East India Companies.
The 19th century. The completion of the Suez Canal in 1869 opened up new trade routes and the
possibility of regular shipping services between Europe and the East. Around the same time, the sailing
vessel Elisabeth carried the first mineral oil cargo and a few years later, in 1886, the first modern oceangoing tanker Glcklauf entered service. During the last years of the 19th century, many large and
luxurious passenger liners were built to meet the growing demand for international travel, both by the rich
and by emigrants seeking new lives. The steam turbine, invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884, enabled
some passenger vessels to achieve speeds in excess of 20 knots.
The 20th century. In 1912 the Danish vessel Selandia become the first seagoing ship with a diesel
engine. Today most merchant ships have diesel engines, usually connected to a single propeller. Since
World War II, merchant ships have become generally larger, faster and more specialized. Many tankers of
more than 200,000-tone deadweight have been built. Ships specially designated to carry standard
containers transport today most manufactured goods.
2. Shipping industry
Shipping industry is the industry devoted to moving goods and passengers by water. More than 90% of all
international trade is transported by sea. Each year the worlds merchant fleets carry several billion tones
of bulk raw materials such as crude oil, refined petroleum, mineral ores, coal, timber and grain. They also

transport a huge volume of manufactured goods, mostly in standard containers. The worlds merchant
fleet consists of nearly 100,000 vessels, of which cargo-carrying ships account for roughly half. The rest
are employed in non-trading activities like fishing, supporting offshore oil industry, and providing
general maritime services, such as towage, dredging and surveying. New types of cargo-carrying ships,
many of them highly specialized and very large, have been introduced to meet the needs of expanding and
more diverse international trade. Their aggregate capacity continues to expand year by year.
3. How merchant ships operate
Merchant ships are designed to carry cargo and passengers. They can operate in the following three basic
ways: liners, tramps and specialized vessels.
a.
Liners are employed on regular routes on a fixed timetable. A list of their arrival and departure
dates is published in advance and they sail whether full or not. They can be classed as either deep-sea
liners, which carry mainly containerized cargo across the oceans of the world or short-sea liners, which
carry containerized and conventional cargo on shorter routes. The first modern liner services were
established in the 1870s. Cargoes may consist of many different kinds of goods, in consignments that are
each much less than a shipload, they include manufactured and high-value goods that can bear higher
transport costs than bulk cargoes. Thus container ships and other vessels engaged in liner services are
usually much faster and better equipped than those engaged in bulk trades. Ferries are also classed as
liners. These offer a daily or weekly service for passengers and vehicles across channels and narrow seas.
A few ships are still employed as passenger liners. They not only carry passengers but also some cargo on
routes from Europe to North America and to the Far East. Air travel has totally displaced the long-haul
passenger services once operated by grand and famous ocean liners like Queen Mary. But many
passengers are still carried by ferries, usually over short distances, and the popularity of holidays at sea in
recent years has led to construction of many large cruise liners. Coastal and short-sea shipping are
concerned with the movement of cargo and passengers between ports in the same country, or between
ports belonging to adjacent countries on the same continent. They include many types of service, such as
the roll-on roll-off passenger and vehicle ferries common throughout Europe and other parts of the
world, and the feeder container ships that link main hub ports like Rotterdam and Hong Kong with their
neighboring subsidiary ports.
b.
Merchant ships can also operate as tramps. These vessels do not sail on regular routes or keep to
a fixed timetable, but are employed where there is cargo for them to carry. Tramps can be classed as
deep-sea tramps or short-sea tramps. A number are classed as coasters. These ply on coastal routes and
up rivers to inland ports. The traditional tramp cargoes are dry bulk cargoes, but some are designed to
carry general cargoes. The tramp steamer is a descendant of the early merchant ships whose masters
loaded them with cargo at home to sell abroad, and vice versa. Tramps are used mainly for carrying bulk
commodities or homogenous cargoes in whole shiploads, with each voyage separately negotiated between
the ships owner and the shipper, usually through a broker.
c.
A large number of merchant ships operate as specialized vessels. They are designed to carry a
particular type of cargo. There are several types of specialized vessels and the most common are oil
tankers. They are owned by the major oil companies or by independent operators. Two other types of
liquid bulk carrier of growing importance are chemical carriers and liquefied natural gas (LNG)
carriers.

TASK 1 Reading comprehension:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

What is a ship?
How do you define a boat in comparison with a ship?
What is shipping?
What are the three basic ways merchant ships operate?
Name two characteristics of a liner?
How are liners classified?
Name two characteristics of a tramp?
How are tramps classified?
What class are ferries included in?
What is the most common type of specialized vessel?

4. Vocabulary
aggregate capacity ~ capacitate mixt
arrival ~ sosire
bulk raw materials ~ materii prime vrac
canal ~ canal artificial
cargo-carrying ships ~ nave de marf
to carry ~ a transporta, a cra, a duce
channel ~ canal natural
chemical carriers ~ nav care transport produse chimice
to class ~ a clasifica
coal ~ crbune
coaster ~ nav costier
consignment ~ ncrctur expediat
containerized cargo ~ marf containerizat
conventional cargo ~ marf convenional
crude oil ~ iei
cruise liner ~ nav de croazier
deep-sea liner ~ nav de linie de curs lung
deep-sea shipping ~ navigaie oceanic
deep-sea tramp ~ nav tramp de curs lung
departure ~ plecare
diesel engine ~ motor diesel
dredging ~ dragaj
feeder container ship ~ nav de aprovizionare cu containere
ferry ~ bac
fishing ~ pescuit
goods ~ mrfuri, bunuri
grain ~ cereale
inland port ~ port interior
knot ~ nod (mile pe or)
liner ~ nav de linie
liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier ~ nav pentru gaze naturale lichefiate
maritime services ~ servicii maritime
merchant ~ comercial

merchant fleet ~ flot comercial

merchant ship ~ nav comercial
mineral oil cargo ship ~ nav pentru iei i derivate
mineral ore ~ minereu
narrow sea ~ strmtoare
non-trading activities ~ activiti necomerciale
ocean-going tanker ~ petrolier oceanic
off-shore ~ la distan de rm
oil tankers ~ petrolier
passenger ~ pasager
passenger liners ~ pasager de linie
passenger vessels ~ nav de pasageri
to ply ~ a naviga pe o rut
port ~ port
propeller ~ elice
refined petroleum ~ petrol rafinat
regular routes ~ rute stabile
roll-on roll-off passenger and vehicle ferry ~ feribot pentru vehicule i pasageri
route ~ rut
to sail ~ a naviga
sailing vessel ~ nav cu pnze
seagoing ship ~ nav maritim
ship ~ nav
shipload ~ ncrctur, transport
shipping ~ navigaie, navlosire
shipping industry ~ industria transportului naval
shipping services ~ servicii de transport naval
short-sea liners ~ nave de linie de curs scurt
short-sea tramp ~ nave tramp de curs scurt
specialized vessel ~ nav specializat
speed ~ vitez
standard container ~ container standard
steam turbine ~ turbin cu abur
surveying ~ inspectare, expertiz
tanker ~ petrolier
timber ~ cherestea
timetable ~ orar, program
to trade ~ a face comer
towage ~ remorcare, remorcaj
tramp ~ nav tramp
transport ~ transport
to travel ~ a cltori
vessel ~ nav
TASK 2 Using the vocabulary try to translate the text into Romanian.
5. Terms relating to a ships hull
The main body of a ship is called the hull. At the base of the hull is a heavy metal plate called the keel.
To make it easier to refer to parts of the ship, the hull is divided into three areas or parts: fore end,
midships and after end. The foremost part is called the bow, the rearmost part is called the stern and the

middle is called amidships. The forward part is nearest the bow and the after part is nearest the stern.
When talking about the forward part of a ship, people call it stem. The stem is the structure that forms the
shape of the front of the ship. An imaginary line down the middle of the ship from the bow to the stern
divides the ship into its port and starboard sides. The port side is the left-hand side and the starboard
side is the right-hand side of the ship when facing forward.
hull ~ corpul navei
bow ~ prova
stern ~ pupa
amidships ~ mijlocul navei
forward ~ nspre prova
after ~ nspre pupa
stem ~ etrav
port side ~ babord
starboard side ~ tribord
TASK 3 Learn all the words in bold from the text and their equivalent in Romanian. They are very
important for the ship and for your orientation on her.
6. Suffixes
a. noun suffixes
Suffixes are groups of letters added at the end of a word that can change the word-class and the meaning
of the word. In English, certain suffixes are used to form nouns from verbs, adjectives and other nouns.
Knowing suffixes can help you to find out the word you need without looking up a dictionary every time.
Verb + suffix
ment: improvement; management; replacement
ion: election; discussion; translation (to translate); complication (to complicate); pollution (to
pollute)
- ation: information; organisation (to organise)
- ing: jogging (to jog); spelling; shipping
Adjective + suffix
-

ness: weakness; darkness; readiness (ready)

ity: punctuality; similarity; flexibility (flexible); scarcity (scarce)

Noun/verb + suffix
-

er: manager; employer (describe peoples jobs)

or: director; operator (to operate); sailor (describe peoples jobs)
ist: economist (economy); psychologist (psychology) (describe peoples jobs)

hood: childhood; manhood (abstract nouns)

ship: partnership; membership; friendship (abstract nouns, status)

TASK 4
Exercise 1 Complete the sentences with the correct form of the word on the right.
Ex: Who made the arrangementsfor the meeting? ARRANGE
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

We had a very heated .. in class today.

DISCUSS
I think . is very important.
PUNCTUAL
The . of the festival was excellent.
ORGANISE
Who won the .?
ELECT
Hes never been very good at. .
SPELL
Their . is all that matters to me.
HAPPY
The . between them is incredible.
SIMILAR
Has there been much . lately?
IMPROVE
Have they got all the . they need?
INFORM
This animal only appears during the hours of . DARK

Exercise 2. What do we call these people?

Ex: a person who dances .dancer.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

a person who murders someone

a person who acts
a person who works in economics
a person who farms
a person who translates
a person who employs other people
a person who works in psychology
a person who sings
a person who operates something
a person who plays football
a person who directs films
a person who writes articles in a newspaper

7. Supplementary reading: merchant ships

There are two kinds of merchant ships: line ships and tramp ships. Tramp ships are like taxis on the
ocean. They usually involve voyage charters, or carrying of a whole shipload of cargo from one port to
another. The voyage charter specifies how much cargo is to be carried between what ports, and the time
frame of the voyage, and the cost of the service.