Glossary
AEO, ISPS or TEU – the technical jargon used by port logistics experts is often totally incomprehensible to laymen. What is a spreader? What is a straddle carrier? On this page you will find definitions that are helpful for a better understanding and communication.
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Ship planning
“Ship planning” refers to how the containers are stowed on board the vessel, i.e. the stowage position they are allocated on board. Containers are stowed according to size, weight and port of destination. The objective is to obtain the maximum use of the available capacity of the ship and keep the number of re-stowing operations to a minimum, as re-stowage costs time. “Ship planning“ is a highly demanding task and responsibility.
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Short sea shipping
The term “shortsea shipping” refers to intermodal transports of intra-european cargo. The major part of distance is covered by ship.
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Spreader
The container crane lifts containers with the help of a rope, on the end of which a so-called spreader is attached. A spreader is an adjustable fitting designed to engage the four corner fittings of container and lock with a twistlock. Some spreaders can be used in twin operation to lift two 20-foot containers at the same time.
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Standard container
A standard container is a 20-foot container. The unit for a standard container is a TEU.
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Straddle carrier
Straddle carriers (also known as van carriers) are large vehicles for moving or stacking containers on the terminal site. They are operated by drivers. The straddle carriers at EUROGATE’s terminals can stack 4-high, i.e. three containers vertically on top of one another. EUROGATE Uses straddle carriers at all its terminals as this concept has proved to be the most flexible. At 16 m high, the largest EUROGATE straddle carriers are as high as a single-family house.
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Stuffing
In In logistics jargon the loading and unloading of cargo into or from a container.
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TEU
Abbreviation for “twenty-foot equivalent unit”. A TEU is a 20-foot standard container. TEU is the unit used in container handling. The handling capacity of a container terminal or the transport capacity of a vessel are measured in TEUs. There are two basic sizes of container: 20-foot containers and 40-foot containers.
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Transhipment
Transhipment refers to moving container cargo from one ship to another. The cargo is not stowed at the port, but is redistributed. In transhipment, cargoes are loaded from a main ship to a feeder ship or vice versa.
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Twinlift
Twinlift spreaders can lift and move two containers at the same time.
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Twistlock
A twistlock is a standard mechanism which engages and locks into the corner fittings of containers to fix them. See also Spreader.
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ULCV (or ULCS)
The abbreviation “ULCV” stands for Ultra-large Container Vessel (or Ultra-large Container Ship). These are container ships with a transport capacity >10,000 TEUs.
