Today a wide variety of goods enter the international trade and many types of ships are used

to transport them. The primary duty of a merchant ship is to transport cargo or passengers
from one port to another where land transport is impossible.
Merchant vessels can be divided into 3 different groups.
Bulk carrier
Bulk carriers are in general single deck ships with machinery after. These vessels are designed
for the transportation of grain etc.
Nowadays, bulk carrier vessels are known as self- loading and self-unloading due to the
implementation* of large cranes mounted onto the deck.
Container ships
They are ocean going ships which are specifically designed to handle shipping containers,
which usually measure 40 feet long. Shipping containers can contain a wide variety of dry
goods items to be transported all over the world including foods, textiles, and electronics.
Container ships were first introduced in the 1950s and since the 1960s the container business
is developing at a fast velocity on the main trade routes of the world.
They are equipped to carry containers in the holds and on the weather deck by means of
special structural arrangements and devices.
Crude oil tanker
The worlds demand for oil has led to a special type of ship, the oil tanker. There has been a
great increase in the size of these ships and there are now tankers with a cargo carrying
capacity of 500,000 tons. The modern tanker is provided with a double hull to minimize the
risk of oil leakage.
Chemical tanker
Chemical tankers are based on a slightly different design than crude oil and product tankers.
The products they carry require special tanks, storage, and transportation procedures.
Because of the danger involved in the carriage of these goods, many countries adopted a
recommendation of
technical minimum requirements. This code divides all cargoes into three classes: Type I for
cargoes with the greatest risk and Type III for the least dangerous cargoes*.
Gas tanker
Gas tankers are basically chemical tankers for cargoes that would be gas under ambient
temperatures and atmospheric pressure. They are capable of carrying many different
categories of chemicals in bulk
Ro-Ro carrier
Roll- on / Roll-of transport is a form of modernized and mechanized general cargo transport
and they are used to facilitate the transport of mobile cargo.
A Ro-Ro ship offers a number of advantages over traditional ships. Some of the advantages
are: Speed, efficiency and growth of tourism. A person can take his car from one country to
another by sea with the help of a Ro-Ro vessel.

Tugs
The tug is expected to render services which are many and varied. Traditional functions of
tugs are assistance to damaged ships, salvage of drifting or grounded vessels etc.
The basic requirements for all tugs are stability under all conditions of operation, and
adequate towing power*.