The main international shipping routes

Shipping routes reflect world trade flows. Sailings are most numerous and most frequent on routes where trade volumes are largest and demand is therefore greatest.

In liner trades to and from the UK, the busiest routes are to the Far East (especially China and Japan), passing through the Mediterranean, the Suez Canal and the Malacca Straits. The North Atlantic route, linking Western Europe and the USA and Canada, is also busy, and there are well-established routes to the Middle East, India, Australia and New Zealand, Central and South America, as well as to East and West Africa.

There are direct liner services from the UK to most other countries, and certainly to all the main trading economies. However, if your cargo is destined for a smaller port in one of these countries or for a port in a country with little trade with the UK, there may not be a direct sailing available - in which case, your cargo will need to be transhipped to another local sailing at the end of the ocean voyage.

In bulk trades routes reflect the places of origin and consumption of the commodities carried. For example, many of the main oil routes begin in the Middle East and end in developed countries where demand for oil is greatest.

How goods are carried on ships

There are three main ways in which goods are transported on ships. These affect how different ships are built.

In containers
The use of containers now dominates commercial international shipping. The advantages of packing goods into containers include:

• The ease of inter-modal transit, i.e. containers can be unloaded from the ship and transferred directly to a road or rail vehicle
• Opportunity to offer consumers a door-to-door service
• Speed and efficiency of loading and unloading
• Security of goods during transit

There are more than 20 internationally recognised types of container, including refrigerated units and open-topped containers, but there are two basic sizes. Their dimensions in metric terms are:

• 20ft: 589cm (l) x 235cm (w) x 239cm (h) - volume 33.2 cubic metres
• 40ft: 1,203cm (l) x 235cm (w) x 239cm (h) - volume 67.7 cubic metres

The largest container ships can accommodate more than 9,000 20ft containers.

As break-bulk
Break-bulk refers to any non-bulk cargo that isn't containerised (such as goods on pallets, or in crates or drums or sacks), which is loaded directly into a ship's hold. Break-bulk tends to be used for specialised trades (such as fresh fruit), or for trade to small ports that do not have the necessary infrastructure to handle containerised traffic. Goods carried as break-bulk can be more susceptible to damage than containerised goods because they are stowed loose in a ship's hold. So strong packaging is essential, as is dunnage (loose packing material), which is placed around the cargo to protect it from damage during transit.

In bulk
Large shipments of certain commodities - such as coal, ore, wheat or oil - are typically carried in bulk, unpackaged in the ship's hold.