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Bulk carrier
The Sabrina I is a modern Handymax bulk carrier.
General characteristics
Type :	Cargo ship
Epoch :	~1850–present
Location :	Worldwide
In use :	6,225 (above 10,000 DWT).[1]
Classes :	Handymax, Handysize, Panamax, Capesize
Current characteristics
Size :	10 - 364,000 DWT
Propulsion :	2-stroke Diesel, 1 propeller
Materials :	steel
Other :	rear house, full hull, series of large hatches
Plans of a Panamax bulker.

Main article: Merchant ship

A bulk carrier, bulk freighter, or bulker is a merchant ship used to transport unpackaged bulk cargo such as cereals, coal, ore, and cement. Ships recognizable as bulk carriers began to appear in the mid-19th century^[2] and have steadily grown in sophistication. Today, bulkers make up a third of the world's merchant fleet and range from small coastal trading vessels of under 500 deadweight tons (DWT) to mammoths of 365,000 DWT. On 30th of April 2007 BW Shipping placed a contract for 4 388,000 DWT bulk carriers with a length of 360.6 m and a breadth of 65m.

Bulkers must be carefully designed and maintained to withstand the rigors of their work. They may carry cargo that is very dense, corrosive, or abrasive, and they are especially exposed to the dangers of cargo shifting which can cause a ship to capsize.^[2] A bulker's large hatchways, important for efficient cargo handling, add to the risk of catastrophic flooding.

Historical forces including economic pressures, disasters, and a maturing body of international regulations have combined to mold today's bulker fleet, affecting aspects from architecture to day-to-day operational procedures.^[3]

Contents 1 Definition 2 History 3 Modern bulk carriers 3.1 Size categories 3.2 General types 3.3 Today's fleet 4 Operation 4.1 Crew 4.2 Voyages 4.3 Loading and unloading 5 Architecture 5.1 Hull shape and machinery 5.2 Hatches 5.3 Hull 5.3.1 Scantlings 6 Safety 6.1 Stability problems 6.2 Structural problems 6.3 Crew safety 7 See also 8 Notes 9 References 9.1 In French 10 External links

There are various ways to define bulk carriers. For example, the Safety of Life at Sea convention defines a bulk carrier as "a ship constructed with a single deck, top side tanks and hopper side tanks in cargo spaces and intended to primarily carry dry cargo in bulk; an ore carrier; or a combination carrier."^[4] However, most classification societies use a broader definition where a bulker is any ship that carries dry unpackaged goods.^[5] Multipurpose cargo ships can carry bulk cargo, but can also carry other cargoes and are not specifically designed for bulk carriage. Some consider oil, chemical, or LPG tankers carriers of liquid bulk cargo.^[6] The distinction between bulker and general cargo ship becomes unclear when considering small ships below 10,000 deadweight tons (DWT). For these vessels, the classification will depend on the ship's owner and classification society.

A number of abbreviations are frequently used to describe bulkers. OBO describes a bulker which carries a combination of ore, bulk, and oil, and O/O is used for combination oil and ore carriers.^[7] VLBC, for Very Large Bulk Carrier, was adapted from very large crude carrier ("supertanker");^[8] similarly, ULBC, or Ultra Large Bulk Carrier, was adapted from Ultra Large Crude Carrier.^[8]

Bulk carriers evolved from general cargo ships,^[2] gradually becoming more specialized after the development of the steam engine. The first steam ship regarded as being a bulk carrier was the British coal carrier SS John Bowes in 1852.^[9][10] She featured a metal hull, a steam engine, and a ballasting system using seawater instead of sandbags which made it possible for this ship to compete very effectively in the British coal market.^[9] The first bulkers with diesel propulsion began to appear in 1911.^[9][10]

Before World War II, the demand for bulk products was low, about 25 million tons for metal ores,^[11][12] and most of this trade was coastal.^[13] However, two defining characteristics of bulkers were already emerging: the double bottom, which was adopted in 1890, and the triangular structure of the ballast or hopper tanks, which was introduced in 1905.^[9]

In the 1950s, an international bulk trade began to develop among industrialized nations, particularly between the European countries, the United States and Japan.^[11] Due to the economics of this trade, bulkers became larger and more specialized.^[3][12]

Before the appearance of bulk carriers, there were two methods to ship what we now consider bulk goods. The first was to package it in sacks, stack the sacks onto pallets, and use a crane to move the pallets into the cargo hold of a general purpose freighter.^[2] The second method was to charter an entire ship, and build plywood grain bins, feeders and shifting boards into the ship’s holds.^[14] Then the loose grain was loaded with a conveyor, pneumatic tube or grabs, while men with shovels kept the cargo trimmed. These methods were time consuming, labor intensive and inefficient. Like the container ship, the modern bulker has evolved to solve the problem of loading and unloading cargo efficiently.

The world's bulk transport has reached immense proportions: in 1996, 1,092 million tons of coal, iron ore, grain, bauxite, and phosphate were transported in bulk; in addition to 703 million tons of steel, cement, pig iron, fertilizer and sugar.^[16] Today, bulkers represent 40% of the world fleet in terms of tonnage^[17] and 39.4% in terms of vessels.^[17]

The world's bulker fleet includes 5,849 ships with a total capacity of 303.2 million tons.^[18] "Pure bulkers" made up the clear majority, with 5,632 ships and a capacity of 279.2 million tons. Ore carriers are the second largest sub-class, with 157 ships and a capacity of 20.7 million tons. The Great Lakes bulker fleet includes 101 ships with a capacity of 3.3 million tons.

41% of the world's bulkers are over 20 years old.^[19] Another 20% are between 10 and 20 years old, and 39% are less than 10 years old.^[19] All of the 98 bulkers registered in the Great Lakes trade are over 20 years old.^[19]

Bulkers can be divided into these major size categories:^[20]

Bulk Carrier Size Categories
Illustration	Description	Ships	Traffic[21]	Price
	Small, less than 10,000 DWT,[22] This category includes Mini-bulkers, which can carry from 500 to 2,500 tons, have a single hold, and are designed mainly for river transport and often to pass under bridges. They have small crews, usually from three to eight people. Shown is Aladin, a mini-bulker designed to pass under low bridges.	No data.	No data.	No data.
	Handysize, from 10,000 to 35,000 DWT,[22] These smaller Handysize and Handymax vessels are general purpose in nature,[5] and not only comprise 71% of all bulkers, but also have the highest rate of growth.[23] This is partly due to new regulations coming into effect which put greater constraints on the building of larger vessels.[23]	34%[5][24]	18%[5]	$75,000,000 [sic][25] for a new Supramax and $60,000,000 [sic] for a 5-year-old Supramax in 2007.[26]
	Supramax, from 45,000 to 59,000 DWT,[22] A Supramax vessel is typically 150–200 meters in length, 52,000–58,000 DWT, with five cargo holds and four cranes.[5]	37%[5][24]
	Panamax, from 60,000 to 80,000 DWT,[22] determined by the Panama canal's lock chambers, 32.26 metres in width, 320.0 metres long, and 25.9 metres deep.[27] Sea Phoenix, a 40,000 ton Handymax[28] is shown passing through the Panama Canal.	19%[5][24]	20%[5]	$100,000,000 [sic][25] for a large new Panamax and $85,000,000 [sic] for a comparable five-year-old in 2007.[26]
	Capesize, from 100,000 to 200,000 DWT,[22] too large to traverse the Suez or Panama Canals and must round the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn to travel between oceans. Capesize bulkers are specialized, 93% of their cargoes being iron ore and coal.[5]	10%[5][24]	62%[5]	$165,000,000 for a new 170,000 DWT Capesize and $115,000,000 for a comparable five-year-old in 2007.[26]
	Very Large Bulk Carriers, for ships over 200,000 DWT.[22] The Berge Stahl, shown at left, is 364,768 deadweight metric tons and is the world's largest bulker. It is 343 m long, has a beam of 65 m, and a draft of 23 m. Bulk carriers of this size almost always carry iron ore.[22]

General Bulk Carrier Types
Illustration	Description
	Basic bulk carriers feature a series of holds (from 5 for a 35,000 ton vessel to 9 for a 250,000 ton vessel[29]) covered by prominent hatch covers. They have cranes which allow them to discharge cargo in ports without shore-based equipment. They are designed to be flexible with respect to the cargoes they can carry and the routes they can travel. (Photo: A traditional bulker equipped with cranes.)
	Combined carriers can carry ore and bulk simultaneously, and may carry oil in the wing tanks. Combined carriers require special design and are expensive. They were prevalent in the 1970s, but their numbers have dwindled since 1990. (Photo: The Captain Diamantis, carrying bulk and ore.)
	Gearless carriers are bulkers without cranes or conveyors. These ships depend entirely on the shore-based equipment of the ports they visit for loading and unloading. Due to their large size, they can only dock at the largest and most advanced ports. The use of gearless bulkers avoids the costs of installing, operating, and maintaining cranes. (Photo: Berge Athen, a 225,000 ton gearless bulker.)
	Self-dischargers are bulkers with conveyor belts which allow them to discharge their cargo quickly and efficiently. (Photo: The John B. Aird a self-discharger on the Great Lakes.)
	Lakers are the bulkers prominent on the Great Lakes, often identifiable by having a forward house which helps in transiting locks. Operating in fresh water, these ships suffer much less corrosion damage and have a much longer lifespan than saltwater ships.[30] As of 2005, there were 98 lakers of 10,000 deadweight tons or over.[31] (Photo: Edmund Fitzgerald, a Great Lakes bulker.)
	BIBO or "Bulk In, Bags Out" bulkers are specially equipped to provide the service of bagging cargo at loading time. The CHL Innovator, shown in the photo, is a BIBO bulker. In one hour, this ship can load and package 300 tons of bulk sugar into 50 kg sacks.[32]

Flag states

As of 2005, the United States Maritime Administration's statistics count 6,225 bulkers of 10,000 deadweight tons or greater worldwide.^[1] More bulkers are registered in Panama, with 1,703 ships, than any four other flag states combined.^[1] In terms of the number of bulk carriers registered, the top five flag states also include Hong Kong with 492 ships, Malta (435), Cyprus (373), and China (371).^[1] Panama also dominates bulker registration in terms of deadweight tonnage. Positions two through five are held by Hong Kong, Greece, Malta, and Cyprus.^[1]

Largest fleets

Greece, Japan, and China are the top three owners of bulk carriers, with 1,326, 1,041, and 979 vessels respectively.^[34] These three nations account for 3,346 vessels or over 53% of the world's fleet.^[34]

There are number of large private fleets, for example Gearbulk Holdings Ltd., a multinational, has 78 bulkers.^[35] Fednav in Canada operates a fleet of 70 bulkers, including two that are specially designed for work in icy environments.^[36] Croatia's Atlantska Plovidba has a fleet of 14 bulkers.^[37] H. Vogemann in Hamburg, Germany operates a fleet of 13 bulkers.^[38] Portline in Portugal, owns 11 bulkers.^[39] TORM in Denmark and Elcano in Spain also own notable bulker fleets.^[40] Some companies specialize in Mini-bulker operations. For example, England's Stephenson Clarke Shipping Limited owns a fleet of eight Mini-bulkers and five small Handysize bulkers.^[41] Cornships Management and Agency Inc. in Turkey owns a fleet of seven Mini-bulkers which specialize in markets in Europe, the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, and West Africa.^[42]

Builders

Asian companies dominate the construction of bulk carriers. Of the world's 6,225 bulkers, 3,841 or almost 62% were built in Japan^[43] by shipyards such as Oshima and Sanoyas Hishino Meisho.^[5] South Korea, with notable shipyards Daewoo and Hyundai Heavy Industries^[5] ranked second among builders, accounting for 643 ships. The People's Republic of China with large shipyards such as Dalian Shipyard, Chengxi, and Shanghai Waigaoqiao ranked third, with 509 ships.^[43] Taiwan, with shipyards such as China Shipbuilding Corporation^[5] ranked fourth, accounting for 129 ships.^[43] Shipyards in these top four countries accounted for over 82% of bulkers afloat.^[43]

Freight charges

Representative freight charges for transporting a Capesize load of coal from South America to Europe in 2005 was $15–25/ton in 2005. A Panamax load of aggregate materials between the Gulf of Mexico and Japan cost $40–70/ton that same year. Freight rate for charters varied during 2005 between $40,000 and $70,000 for a Capesize ship, $20,000-$50,000/day for a Panamax ship and $18,000-$30,000/day for a Handymax ship.^[26]

Scrap prices

Generally, ships are removed from the fleet through a process known as scrapping.^[44] Ship-owners and buyers negotiate scrap prices based on factors such as the ship's empty weight (called light ton displacement or LDT) and prices in the scrap metal market.^[45] In 1998, almost 700 ships went through the scrapping process at shipbreakers in places like Alang, India and Chittagong, Bangladesh.^[44] In 2004, 500,000 deadweight tons worth of bulkers were scrapped, representing 4.7% of all scrapped ships.^[26] That year, bulkers sold for particularly high scrap prices, between $340 and $350 per LDT.^[26]

Typical Bulk Carrier Crew

Captain/Master
Deck department	Engine department	Steward's department
1 -Chief Officer 1 -2nd Officer 1 -3rd Officer 1 -Boatswain 2-6-Able Seamen 0-2-Ord. Seamen	1 -Chief Engineer 1 -1st Asst. Engr. 1 -2nd Asst. Engr 1-2-3rd Asst. Engr. 0-2-QMED/Jr. Engr. 1-3- Oiler 0-3-Greaser/s 1-3-Entry-level	1-Chief Steward 1-Chief Cook 1-Stwd's Asst

The crew on a typical bulker includes 20 to 30 people, though smaller ships can be handled by 8. The crew will include the captain or master, the deck department, the engineering department, and the steward's department. The practice of taking passengers aboard cargo ships, once almost universal, is very rare today and almost non-existent on bulkers.^[46]

During the 1990s, bulkers were involved in an alarming number of shipwrecks, leading ship-owners to commission a study seeking to explain the effect of various factors on the crew's effectiveness and competence.^[47] The study showed that bulk carrier crews' performance was the lowest of all groups studied, with the best bulker performance aboard younger and Capesize ships.^[47] A correlation was also found between competence and the better maintained ships. The study also showed higher competence aboard ships on which fewer languages were spoken.^[47]

Fewer deck officers are employed on bulkers than on similarly sized ships of other types.^[47] A mini-bulker will have 2 to 3 deck officers, while larger Handysize and Capesize bulkers will carry 4.^[47] A LNG tanker of the same size will have an extra deck officer and another unlicensed mariner.^[47]

A bulker's voyages are determined by market forces, and often vary. For example, a ship may engage in the grain trade during the harvest season and later move on to carry other cargoes or work on a different route. Aboard a coastal carrier in the tramp trade, one will often not know the next port of call until the cargo is fully loaded.

Due primarily to inefficiencies in discharging bulk cargo, bulkers spend more time in port than other ships. A study of Mini-bulkers found that it takes, on average, twice as much time to unload a ship than it does to load it.^[47] For example, a Mini-bulker will spend 55 hours at a time in port, compared to 35 hours for a similar-sized lumber carrier.^[47] For the larger bulkers, this time in port increases to 74 hours for Handymax and 120 hours for Panamax vessels.^[47] Compared with the 12-hour turnarounds common with container ships, 15-hour turnarounds for car carriers, and 26-hour turnarounds for large tankers, bulker crews have much greater opportunities to spend some time ashore.^[47]

Loading and unloading a bulker is time-consuming and dangerous. The process is planned by the ship's captain, often with assistance from the chief mate. International regulations require the captain and terminal master agree on a detailed plan before operations begin.^[48] Deck officers and stevedores oversee the operations. Still, from time to time, a ship will be incorrectly loaded and capsize or break in half at the pier.^[49]

The actual work of loading can be done in a variety of ways, depending on the cargo, equipment available on the ship, equipment available on the dock. In the least advanced ports, cargo can be loaded with shovels or bags poured from the hatch cover. This system is being replaced with faster, less labor-intensive methods.^[50] Double-articulation cranes, which can load at a rate of 1000 tons per hour, represent a very widely used method,^[50] and the use of shore-based gantry cranes, reaching 2000 tons per hour, is growing.^[50] A crane's discharge rate is limited by the bucket's capacity (from 6 to 40 tons) and by the speed to which the crane can take a load, deposit it at the terminal, and to return to take the next. For modern gantry cranes, the total time of the grab-deposit-return cycle is about 50 seconds.^[5]

Conveyor belts offer a very efficient method of loading, with standard loading rates varying between 100 and 700 tons per hour, although the most advanced ports can offer rates of 16,000 tons per hour.^[51][50] However, there is a danger with conveyors: start-up and shutdown procedures are complicated and require time to carry out.^[51] Self-discharging ships also use conveyor belts with load rates of around 1000 tons per hour.^[50]

Once the ship has discharged its cargo, the crew begins to clean the holds. This is particularly important if the next cargo is of a different type.^[52] The immense size of the cargo holds and irritating qualities of many cargoes add to the difficulty of cleaning the holds. When the holds are clean, the actual loading begins.

During all stages of loading, it is crucial to keep the cargo level to maintain stability.^[53] As the hold is filled, machines such as excavators and bulldozers are often used to keep the cargo in check. Levelling is particularly important when the hold only is partially filled, due to increased risks of shifting cargo.^[54] In this case, extra precautions are taken, such as adding longitudinal divisions and securing wood atop the cargo.^[2] If a hold is filled entirely, a technique called tomming is used,^[53] which involves digging out an area directly below the hatch cover to a depth of about 6 feet (2 m) and re-filling this area with bagged cargo or weights.^[53]

A typical bulker offload

1. A bulldozer is loaded into the hold.	2. The bulldozer pushes cargo to the center of the hold.	3. The gantry crane picks up the cargo.	4. The gantry crane removes the cargo from the ship.	5. The gantry crane moves the cargo to a bin on the pier.
Photos courtesy of Danny Cornelissen of portpictures.nl.

A bulk carrier's design depends greatly on the cargo it will carry. The cargo's density is particularly important. Densities for common bulk cargoes vary greatly, from 0.6 tons per cubic meter for light grains to 3 tons per cubic meter for iron ore.^[5] Ore carriers, for example, are governed by the limiting factor of overall weight as ore has high density. Coal carriers, on the other hand, are limited by overall volume as coal has a lower density and thus fills the holds before the ship reaches its maximum draught.^[5]

For a given tonnage, the second factor which governs the ship's dimensions is the size of the ports and waterways it will travel to. For example, a vessel that will pass the Panama Canal will be limited in its beam, or width. Generally, the ratio of length-to-width ranges between 5 and 7, with an average of 6.2. The ratio of length-to-height will be between 11 and 12.^[5]

Bulkers are designed to be easy to build and to store cargo efficiently. To facilitate construction, bulkers are built with a single hull curvature.^[5] Also, while a bulbous bow allows a ship to move more efficiently through the water, designers lean towards simple vertical bows, especially on the largest bukers.^[5] Full hulls, with large block coefficients, are almost universal, and as a result, bulkers are inherently slow.^[5] This is offset by their efficiency. One measure of this efficiency is found in the ratio of the empty ship's weight to its deadweight tonnage. For bulkers this figure ranges between 12% for a large Capesize bulker to 20% for a smaller Handymax ship.^[5]

A bulker's engine room is generally located near the stern, under the house and above fuel tanks to decrease the length of piping. Larger bulkers, from Handymax up, have a two-stroke diesel engine which directly moves a single propeller. An alternator is coupled directly with the propeller shaft, and an auxiliary generator is used.^[5] On the smallest bulkers, one or two four-stroke diesels are used, and coupled with the propeller via a gear box.^[5] The average design ship speed for bulkers of Handysize and above is between 13.5 and 15 knots (28 km/h).^[22] The propeller speed is relatively low, at about 90 revolutions per minute.^[5]

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, coal-fuelled ships were regarded as a viable alternative to petroleum due to the rise in price of fuel oil. The Australian New Lines company constructed the 74,700-ton, 19,000-horsepower steamship River Boyne which was a coal-burner. This strategy gave an interesting advantage to carriers of bauxite and similar fuel cargoes, but suffered from problems with poor engine yield, maintenance problems, and high initial costs.^[55]

A hatch or hatchway is the opening at the top of a cargo hold. The mechanical devices which allow hatches to be opened and closed are called hatch covers. In general, hatch covers are between 45% and 60% of the ship's breadth, or beam, and 57% to 67% of the length of the holds.^[5] To efficiently load and unload cargo, hatches must be large, but large hatches present structural problems. Hull stress is concentrated around the edges of the hatches, and these areas must be reinforced.^[56] This reinforcement is usually achieved by locally increasing the scantlings or by adding structural members called stiffeners. Both of these options have the undesired effect of adding weight to the ship.

There are a variety of arrangements for opening and closing hatches. As recently as the 1950s, bulk carriers had wooden covers that would be manually disassembled and reassembled, rather than opened and closed.^[57] On newer vessels, hatches are opened and closed by use of hydraulic systems, and can generally be operated by one person.^[58] Many systems involve the hatch cover sliding forwards, backwards, or to the sides. It is key that the hatch covers be watertight: unsealed hatches lead to accidental cargo hold flooding, which has caused many bulkers to sink.^[59]

Regulations regarding hatch covers have evolved since the investigation following the loss of the MV Derbyshire.^[60] The Load Line Conference of 1966 imposed a load of 1.74 tons/m² due to sea water, and a minimum scantling of 6 mm for the tops of the hatch covers. The IACS then introduced the Unified Requirement S21 in 1998 where the pressure due to sea water is computed as a function between freeboard and speed, especially for hatch covers located on the forward portion of the ship.^[5]

Bulkers have a cross-section typical of most merchant ships. The upper and lower corners of the hold are used as ballast tanks, as is the double bottom area. The corner tanks are reinforced and serve another purpose besides controlling the ship's trim. Designers choose the angle of the corner tanks to be less than that of the angle of repose of the anticipated cargoes.^[13] This greatly reduces the possibility of side-to-side movement, or "shifting," of cargo which can seriously endanger the ship.^[13]

The double bottoms are subject to a number of design constraints as well. The primary concern is that they be sufficiently high to allow the passage of pipes and cables. These areas must also be roomy enough to allow people safe access to perform surveys and maintenance. On the other hand, concerns of excess weight and wasted volume keep the double bottoms very tight spaces.

Bulker hulls are made of steel, usually mild steel.^[61] Some manufacturers have preferred high-tensile steel recently in order to reduce the tare weight.^[62] However, the use of high-tensile steel for longitudinal and transverse reinforcements can reduce the hull's rigidity and resistance to corrosion.^[13] Forged steel is used for some ship parts, such as the propeller shaft support.^[5] Transverse partitions are made of corrugated iron, reinforced at the bottom and at connections.^[5] The construction of bulker hulls using a concrete-steel sandwich has been investigated.^[63]

Double hulls have become popular in the past ten years.^[5] Designing a vessel with double sides adds primarily to its breadth, since bulkers are already required to have double bottoms.^[64] One of the advantages of the double hull is to make room to place all the structural elements in the sides, removing them from the holds.^[65] This increases the volume of the holds, and simplifies their structure which helps in loading, unloading, and cleaning.^[66] Double sides also improve a ship's capacity for ballasting, which is particularly important in the carriage of light goods: the ship may have to increase its draught for stability or seakeeping reasons, which is done by ballasting water.

A recent design, called Hy-Con, seeks to combine the strengths of single-hull and double-hull construction. Short for Hybrid Configuration, this design doubles the forward-most and rear-most holds and leaves the others single-hulled.^[67] This approach increases the ship's solidity at key points, while reducing the overall tare weight.^[68]

Since the adoption of double hull has been more of an economic than a purely architectural decision, some argue that ships with double sides will receive less comprehensive surveys and suffer more from hidden corrosion.^[69] In spite of opposition, double hulls became a requirement for Panamax and Capesize vessels in 2005.^[70]

Freighters are in continual danger of "breaking their back"^[71] and thus longitudinal strength is a primary architectural concern. A naval architect uses the correlation between longitudinal strength and a set of hull thicknesses called scantlings to manage problems of longitudinal strength and stresses. A ship's hull is comprised of individual parts called members.^[71] The set of dimensions of these members is called the ship's scantlings.^[71] Naval architects calculate the stresses a ship can be expected to be subjected to, add in safety factors, and then can calculate the required scantlings.^[71]

These analyses are conducted for a number of conditions, from travelling empty, loading and unloading scenarios, partial loads, full loads, to conditions of temporary overloading.^[5] Places subject to the largest stresses are studied carefully, such as hold-bottoms, hatch-covers, bulkheads between holds, and the bottoms of ballast tanks.^[5] Great Lakes bulkers also must be designed to withstand springing, or developing resonance with the waves, which can cause fatigue fractures.^[72]

Since April 1, 2006, the International Association of Classification Societies has adopted the Common Structural Rules. The rules apply to bulkers more than 90 meters in length and require that scantlings' calculations take into account items such as the effect of corrosion, the harsh conditions often found in the North Atlantic, and dynamic stresses during loading. The rules also establish margins for corrosion, from 0.5 to 0.9 mm.^[73]

The 1980s and 1990s were a very unsafe time for bulk carriers. Many bulkers sank during this time, 99 were lost between 1990 and 1997 alone.^[11] Most of these losses happened very quickly, making it impossible for the crew to escape: more than 650 sailors were lost during this same period.^[11] Due partly to the shipwreck of the MV Derbyshire, a number of international safety resolutions regarding bulkers were adopted during the 1990s.^[29]

Cargo shifting poses a great danger for bulkers. The problem is even more pronounced with grain cargoes, since grain settles during a voyage and creates extra space between the top of the cargo and the top of the hold.^[2] Cargo is then free to move from one side of the ship to the other as the ship rolls. This can cause the ship to list, which, in turn, causes more cargo to shift. This kind of chain reaction can capsize a bulker very quickly.^[2]

The 1960 SOLAS Convention sought to control this sort of problem.^[16] These regulations required the upper ballast tanks designed in a manner to prevent shifting. They also required cargoes to be levelled, or trimmed, using excavators working directly in the holds.^[74] The practice of trimming reduces the amount of the cargo's surface area in contact with air^[75] which has a useful side-effect: reducing the chances of spontaneous combustion in cargoes such as coal, iron, and metal shavings.^[75]

Another sort of risk that can effect dry cargoes, is absorption of ambient moisture.^[76] When carrying very fine concretes and aggregates, the mixture with water can create mud at the bottom of the hold, which shifts very easily and can produce a free surface effect.^[76] The only way to control these risks is by good ventilation practices and careful monitoring for the presence of water.^[76]

In 1990 alone, 20 bulk carriers sank, taking with them 94 crewmen. In 1991, 24 bulkers sank, killing 154.^[77] This level of loss focused attention on the safety aspects of bulk carriers, and a great deal was learned. The American Bureau of Shipping concluded that the losses were "directly traceable to failure of the cargo hold structure"^[30] and Lloyd's Register of Shipping added that the hull sides could not withstand "the combination of local corrosion, fatigue cracking and operational damage."^[77]

The accident studies showed a clear pattern:^[59]

1. Sea water enters the forward hatch, due to a large wave, a poor seal, corrosion, etc.^[59]
2. The extra water weight in hold number one compromises the partition to hold number two,^[59]
3. Water enters hold number two and alters the trim so much that more water enters the holds^[59]
4. With two holds rapidly filling with water, the bow submerges and the ship quickly sinks, leaving little time for the crew to react.^[59]

Previous practices had required ships to withstand the flooding of a single forward hold, but did not guard against situations where two holds would flood. The case where two after (rear) holds are flooded is no better, because the engine room is quickly flooded, leaving the ship without propulsion. If two holds in the middle of the ship are flooded, the stress on the hull can become so great that the ship snaps in two.

Other contributing factors were identified:

• The majority of shipwrecks involved ships over 20 years in age. A glut of ships of this age occurred in the 1980s, caused by an overestimate of the growth of international trade.^[2]
• Corrosion, due to a lack of maintenance, affected the seals of the hatch covers and the strength of the bulkheads which separate holds. The corrosion is difficult to detect due do the immense size of the surfaces involved.^[78][79]
• Advanced methods of loading, and in some cases overloading, were not foreseen when the ships were designed. These unexpected shocks, over time, can damage the hull's structural integrity.^[51]
• Recent use of high-tensile steel in construction has negative side-effects. This material is prone to corrosion and can develop metal fatigue in choppy seas.^[72]
• According to Lloyd's Register, a principal cause was the attitude of ship-owners, who sent ships with known problems to sea.^[80]

The new rules adopted in the 1997 annexes to the SOLAS convention focused on a number of problems, such as reinforcing bulkheads and the longitudinal frame, more stringent inspections (with a particular focus on corrosion) and routine in-port inspections.^[2] The 1997 additions also required bulkers with restrictions (for instance, forbidden from carrying certain types of cargoes) to mark their hulls with large, easy-to-see triangles.^[81]

Since December 2004, Panamax and Capesize bulkers have been required to carry free-fall lifeboats located on the stern, behind the house.^[2] This arrangement allows the crew to abandon ship quickly in case of a catastrophic emergency.^[82] One argument against the use of free-fall lifeboats is that the evacuees require "some degree of physical mobility, even fitness."^[83] Also, injuries have occurred during launches, for example, in the case of incorrectly secured safety belts.^[83]

In December 2002, Chapter XII of the SOLAS convention was amended to require the installation of high-level water alarms and monitoring systems on all bulkers. This safety measure quickly alerts watchstanders on the bridge and in the engine room in case of flooding in the holds.^[2] In cases of catastrophic flooding, these detectors could speed the process of abandoning ship.

• Category:Bulk freighters
• M/V Bright Field
• Erling Dekke Næss
• Great Belt Fixed Link
• MV Lake Illawarra
• List of museum ships
• MV Flare
• Sygna (shipwreck)
• Starlight (song)
• SS Edmund Fitzgerald

• Frankel, Ernst G. (1985). Bulk Shipping and Terminal Logistics. ISBN 082130531X. 
• George, William (2005). Stability and Trim for the Ship's Officer. Centreville, MD: Cornell Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-87033-564-8. 
• Hayler, William B. (2003). American Merchant Seaman's Manual. Cornell Maritime Pr. ISBN 0-87033-549-9. 
• International Maritime Organization (September 1999). IMO and the safety of bulk carriers (PDF). Focus on IMO. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
• Isbester, Jack (1993). Bulk Carrier Practice. ISBN 1870077164. 
• Office of Data and Economic Analysis (July 2006). World Merchant Fleet 2001–2005 (PDF). United States Maritime Administration. Retrieved on March 13, 2007.
• Thompson, Mark L. (1994). Queen of the Lakes. ISBN 0814323936. 
• Zera, Thomas F. (1996). Ore-Oil Bulk: Pictorial History of Bulk Shipping Losses of the 1980's. ISBN 0964393778. 

• (2005) Navires de commerce français (in French). ISBN 2915379173. 
• Billard, Jérôme (1999). La Mar mar : La Marine marchande française de 1914 à nos jours (in French). Caen. ISBN 2726884598. 
• Le Petit, Karine. Carnets de bord : Caen-Ouistreham, un port de commerce (in French). ISBN 2-9508601-9-2. 
• Terrassier, N. (2001). Les Transports maritimes de marchandises en vrac (in French). Éditions Moreux. ISBN 2-851120-26-3. 

• Bulk Carriers @ United Nations Atlas of the Oceans
• Super Cargo Ships book
• Google Maps Satellite Image of bulk carrier in Sunda Strait, Indonesia
• Bulk Carriers at MRI Netherlands
• Histories of WWII Bulkers

v • d • e General Types of Modern Merchant Ship
Dry Cargo Ships:	Bulk carrier · Container ship · Reefer ship · RORO Ship
Tankers:	Petroleum tanker · Chemical tanker · Coastal trading vessel
Passenger ship:	Cruise ship · Cruiseferry · Ferry · Cable layer · Tugboat · Dredger · Barge
Panamax · Capesize · Seawaymax · Handymax · Handysize · Aframax · Suezmax · Malaccamax · VLCC · ULCC