Reference
Capesize
Too large for the canals. What it carries, how it is built and the limits that define the class.
- Typical deadweight
- Typically about 100,000–200,000 DWT; a standard Capesize is around 180,000 DWT
- Length overall
- Commonly 270–300 m across the class
- Beam
- About 45 m
- Draft
- Commonly about 17–18 m laden
- Defining constraint
- Historically too large for the Panama and Suez canals
- Cargo gear
- Gearless
- Typical trade
- Iron ore and coal
- Typical draught
- About 17.95 m
- Cargo holds
- 9
Size class names such as Handysize, Supramax and Capesize are commercial conventions rather than formal standards, and the deadweight bands attached to them vary between brokers, exchanges and shipowners. The canal and berth limits quoted below are published dimensions and are exact; the deadweight ranges are indicative.
About Capesize vessels
The name comes from the routing: ships too large for the canals had to round the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn, and the label stuck as a size class.
Capesize tonnage exists to serve the iron ore and coal trades, principally Australia and Brazil to East Asia and Europe. Ships are gearless and depend entirely on dedicated deepwater terminals with shiploaders and unloaders.
The name is looser than it once was. The Suez Canal was deepened in 2009 to a draft of about 20.1 metres, which lets a laden standard Capesize transit where it previously could not. The Panama Canal is a different matter: even the Neopanamax locks cap draft at 15.2 metres, so a laden Capesize still cannot pass. The class name has stayed in commercial use regardless.
What it carries
How it is built
- A single-deck hull divided into large cargo holds, closed by weathertight steel hatch covers that roll or fold clear for grab and conveyor work.
- Ballast tanks in the double bottom and in the topside and hopper wings, which shape the hold and let the cargo self-trim as it settles.
- Corrugated transverse bulkheads between holds, stiff enough to take the pressure of a dense cargo without intermediate framing inside the space.
- Machinery and accommodation aft, leaving the full forward length of the ship for cargo.
- On geared ships, deck cranes or derricks between the hatches so the vessel can work in ports with no shore equipment.
Why it is used
- The cheapest way to move a tonne of dry commodity, because the cargo needs no packaging, unitisation or securing.
- Loading and discharge rates are very high where shore equipment is good — grabs, conveyors and shiploaders move thousands of tonnes an hour.
- Geared ships can trade almost anywhere, including ports with no cranes of their own.
- Hold arrangements are flexible enough to carry several parcels of different commodities on one voyage.
What to check before fixing
- Dense cargoes such as iron ore load the structure heavily and are subject to strict loading sequences to avoid overstressing the hull.
- Cargoes that can liquefy — some ore concentrates and fines — must be checked against their transportable moisture limit before loading.
- Draft and air draft govern which berths and waterways a ship can use, and both change with the season and the fresh-water allowance.
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