CHAPTER 6 General Cargo Stowage

Due to the many and various types of packaging now being used by shippers as well
as the different methods of handling, the ship's officer must study how these are
carried, how they are out turned and particularly the effects of the height of tiers.
The temperature and humidity in the holds as well as the wear and tear on the
packaging material must also be considered.
There are several countries where cargoes cannot be insured unless they are loaded
in accordance with regulations drawn up by the Underwriters, whose Surveyors
supervise the loading and certify that these commodities have been loaded in
accordance with the appropriate regulations.
The intelligent use of dunnage can often prevent damge to cargo and thus avoid
heavy damage claims.
It is the Masters responsibility to see that the cargo is securely and safely stowed.
Bagged Cargoes: The size type and quality of the bag used should be studied as it
may range between the close texture good quality fiber bag used for flour, sugar,
small seeds etc. to the 4 or 5 ply paper bag used for cement to the plastic lined bag
used for cargoes of little intrinsic value such as nitrates or crushed animal bones.
The nature and condition of the cargo should be taken into account. All rice cargoes
sweat, since rice is grown in flooded fields and thus must have good ventilation
which is usually achieved by incorporating special timber ventilation shafts in the
stow.
Flour will absorb moisture from nearby wet or damp cargo and will taint from
ordorus cargo.
Certain cargoes almost invariably become insect infested,thus the copra beetle may
migrate to other cargo causing questions to be raised on the out turn.
The chemistry of the cargo must be considered. Cargo which is rich in oxygen such
as many of the nitrates will aid combustion in the event of fire even in an enclosed
space. Spontaneous Combustion is a feature of many compounds, some of them
not at all well known such as lamp black, as well as the more obvious such as hay
and esparto grass, although the latter more from a bacterial rather than a chemical
action.
Cosideration must be given to the fact that a stow of bagged cargo may shoot if the
corner bags are not locked or cross tied. The possibility of the stow settling or
sinking causing bags to contact or be chafed by parts of the ship's structure or the
stow being of such height that the superimposed bags cause the lower tiers to burst
and loose their contents must be borne in mind.

All bagged cargoes must be protected from sweating and chafing damage by
covering steelwork with matting of some description. No bags should overlap a
stringer or beam angles or any projection, for a slight sinkage or movement may
cause chafing or cutting of nearby bags, quite often resulting in a loss of contents.
In a compartment where cargo battens or spar ceiling is closely spaced bagged
cargo should be stowed athwartships in the wings so that only the ends will be
affected by sweat which again can be minimised by protective matting. If the cargo
battens or spar ceiling is widely spaced then the wing bags should be stowed on the
end so that the centre of the bag will not protrude through the space between the
cargo battens and so touch the either the side frames of the side shell.
Where good ventilation is recommended stowage should be bag and bag with vent
channels every so often both horizontal and vertical, the ends being well jammed
together.
Where it is not essential better stowage will result in half bag, particulay if the bags
are soft. With this method and to give a tight stow, the wing bags would be stowed
on their edges.
For handling, proper bag hooks should be used, but if they are not, the ears often
left at the ends of the sacks should be used. The use of hooks particularly on
bagged seeds is risky since a small hole made by a hook can lead to loss and or
mixing of contents. If a bag is damaged it is good practice to have a needle man
standing by to repair any torn or hook-damaged bags.
Care should be taken in stowing a bagged cargo close to a moist cargo, or one that
is liable to sweat, because often on a long voyage the bags may rot, with a poor out
turn as the result. When overstowing other dry cargo with a bagged cargo proper
dunnage should be laid and separation cloths should be used in order to prevent the
contents of burst bags from mixing with the cargo below and when stowing bagged
grain over bulk grain in the event of a partly filled hold, the bags must be supported
on heavy boards of at least one inch thick laid grating fashion over the levelled off
bulk grain to prevent the bags from sinking. The Grain Regulations require at least
a four bag high stowage for this purpose.
Avoid heaving sling loads of bagged cargo out from the wings or the ends of the
holds for this usually means that the the bottom bags get torn over various metal
obstructions and slack and damaged bags could result. All sweeping should after
discharge be collected up and bagged, for where a Bill of Landing calls for the
delivery of a number of bags, it is the number the consignee is entitled to recieve.
Care should be taken when using bagged cargo for Broken Stowage, all spaces
should be properly dunnaged prior to the filling of the gaps and avoid movement.
Baled Cargo: The coverings used for baled cargo vary from hessian and canvas to
modern plastic sheetings in various forms and colours while the shapes and sizes of
the packages are many. The more valuable goods such as carpets and textiles

usually have a strong, often waterproof outer covering, sometimes bound round
with rope, wire or steel banding. Cotton, wool and jute and a number of similar
unmanufactured goods are also often pressed packed and baled, with or without
external bindings or wrappings.
Damage by chafing is the principle hazard in stowing baled manufactured goods.
This means a very tight stow avoiding as far as possible all lateral movement, and it
involves the proper use of dunnage which should be laid so that it does not present
a sharp edge to any bale. It may help to measure up hold spaces and heights to
ensure that bales of wool, jute and cotton for example which do not have the same
measurements all around are stowed so that the minimum of space is left.
Bales of valuable textiles should where possible be stowed on their sides, for the
damage by chafing will then only affect coverings and outermost layers, whereas if
stowed on end and chafing occurs the whole length of the material may be affected.
Proper dunnage is necessary with the stowage of all bale cargoes.
In a block stowage the tiers should be kept level or the packages may be cut by
pressure. Staining by wet, greasy, oily substances or rust must be avoided. Bales
should not be be handled by the wire or rope bindings. Bale cargoes should not be
stowed in the same compartement with products likely to be damp, moist or that
are liable to sweat and should be stowed well away from oil, fats, paint etc. likely to
cause them damage by leakage.
Where it becomes necessary to stow case goods over bales, a good firm flooring
should be laid over them especially if they have not been press packed as sinkage
may bring the whole upper stow to collapse. A note about press packing, some bale
commodities such as jute are baled in the field and a 400 lb. bale would occupy 18
cubic feet, while the same commodity baled in the factory would weigh the same
but occupy only 12 cubic feet. Care therefore must be taken when laying out the
ship for such a cargo that the cubic of the bale must be taken into account as well
as the weight. The small bale being termed pukkah and the large bale kutcha.
Barrels, Kegs Casks etc. These may be made of various sizes and are usually of
wooden construction and they may contain various liquids, near liquids and solids.
Construction varies considerably, those used for carrying valuable liquids such as
wines, spirits etc. being stronger and better quality than those used for pottery
which may be of flimsy make. Note must therefore be taken of the contents before
deciding on the stowage methods as well as the construction of the container itself.
A properly made wooden barrel has the sections at the top and bottom vertical
when the bung and stave is uppermost, on this stave are also located the hoop
rivets, the strongest part being very close to the quarter hoop, the weakest part of
the barrel is the belly or bilge close to the bung.

Barrel stowage can either be bilge and cantline or bilge and bilge. The former
method gives a more compact and tighter stowage with less liability to damage due
to the cargo working. Fore and aft stowage should be the rule, the rows being kept
straight, with the ends of the barrles lying fair together since any interlocking may
cause damage and leakage especially if the stow works. Dunnage should not be
spared with barrel stow, generally beds of short pieces of soft wood should be
placed under the quarter cask of each of the bottom stow, movement athwartships
being prevented by wedges or shaped pieces of timber known as quoins being
placed on each side of the barrel. Barrels must be stowed bung up and bilge free.
The number of tiers of barrels allowed in a stow is dependent upon their
construction and contents and the ship's officer should be governed by the practice
of the trade. Careful consideration should be given to suggestions to stow a single
tier of barrels on their ends, this should only be agreed to in special circumstances
since it may become necessary at a later stage to stow on top of them and unless
the barrels are restowed, the consequences could be disastrous.
Cases crates and cartons: This covers a multitude of units of various sizes the
principal source of the troube being case lightness. Tinned goods such as paint, fish
or beer are often packed in carboard or fiberboard cartons, mostly of standard
measurements and as such are fairly easy to stow provided certain rules are
observed.
Cases of this type particulary those containing tinned goods should never be stowed
in the same compartment as damp or moist cargo, or one that is liable to sweat.
There have been examples of the tins rusting and the cartons disintigrating. Once
again good and ample dunnaging is required so that the tiers of cartons are level.
For heavy well made packages bottom stowage is the best, these will be units of
very divergent size, necessistating the use of much broken stowage by using
suitable robust smaller cased cargo to fill the inequalities of the lower tiers. The
aim should be to keep a working level cases such as heavy machinery stowed the
right way up and if possible all marks and numbers on top. Stout planks should be
used to level off tiers and care taken that the weight of any heavy smaller cased
cargo is carried on the sides and the ends of the cases immediately beneath it and
not the centre of the top.
Steel Drums: These are of two kinds, they may be either flanged or corrugated, the
object being to give stiffeness. Flanged drums may be stowed either vertically or
horizontally, with the screwed steel or wood bungs uppermost and any dunnage
used beneath a horizontal stow should be of the same thickness as the flange to
avoid the weight denting or damaging the drum body. Stowage should be level with
the flanges of the upper tier resting on the flanges of those below. The whole
stowage should be chocked off to prevent lateral movement.

Corrugated Drums and Plastic Drums are usually much weaker and should not be
stowed to any great height. Usually the bungs are fitted on the ends and therefore
it is better to stow them vertically with the bungs uppermost and dunnage between
each tier. If the drums contain solids it may be possible to stow higher, but
whatever is done it should always be remembered that liquids, semi-liquids and
sometimes solids may melt with the possibility of leakage on to cargo below or
close to it.
The shipper is responsible for fastening the cargo securely to the pallet and that the
resulting unit load is sufficiently strong and stable to withstand ordinary risks of the
voyage, the handling by fork lift vehicle or other conventional means. The load
must be squared on the four sides, be level on top and of sufficent strength to allow
overstowage by other pallets or cargo. If dangerous or other hazardous cargo is
included in a unit load comprising of more than one commodity, these latter are to
be compatable in classification and stowage and the requirements of the country of
the carrying line must be observed with regard to marking , labelling and packing of
both individual packages and of the whole unit load.
Taint: This type of damage has to be guarded against particularly where foodstuffs
are concerned, such commodities as tea, flour, eggs, butter, meats, coffee ect. are
easily damaged by taint even when stowed by themselves in a compartment that
formerly held green fruit, fish etc. and had not been effeftively cleansed. Even
strong and aromatic disenfectants used in cleaning holds and bilges can cause
trouble. Certain other factors must also be considered for instance air ventilation
that has to be passed through two adjacent compartments, one containing some
strong smelling cargo and the other taintable cargo, or again leaking turpentine, oil
or paint drums which have been stowed on a timber hold ceiling during a previous
voyage and the hold only partly cleaned, can lead to heavy claims if taintable cargo
is stowed therein. The use of absolutely clean dunnage is essential to a claim free
out turn of taintable cargo. High humidity and temperatures will cause trouble, it is
better where possible to stow taintable cargoes by themselves in seperate
compartments remembering that one commodity can, whilst being itself taintable
cause taint to another. Thus bagged coffee can be damaged by fuel oil, but itself
can taint tea and so on.
Ventilation: Proper ventilation of cargo spaces is necessry to:
1. Prevent condensation forming which causes sweat damage.
2. Control Cargo Temperature.
3. Remove stale air or gass given off by cargo.
Fans are fitted to modern vessels where the air can be changed in a compartment
up to 15 times per hour. With a full compartment this will be even greater. It is

important to see that all air intakes, ventilation shafts, ducts etc. are free from dirt,
rust and remnants from bulk cargoes etc. so that maximum air flow is assured.
There are two types of sweat:
Cargo Sweat occurs when the outside air enters at a higher dew point than the air
already in the hold, with the result that moisture is deposited on the cold cargo.
This can occur when cargo loaded in a cold climate, had not become sufficiently
warmed to raise the dewpoint.
Ship Sweat is caused when the ship's structure is cool, and the temperatures of the
air within the ship becomes cooled below the dew point. Ventilation can help
prevent Ship Sweat but at the same time can cause Cargo Sweat, thus when
proceeding from a cold to a warm climate, it may be better to let the cargo warm up
before circulating air through the hold.
Sweat can be materially reduced by keeping the bilges and wells dry and it follows
that dry cargoes should not be worked in rain, except in dire necessity, when
stringent precautions to keep both the hatch square and the cargo itself covered
should be observed.