Multi-purpose ships are designed to carry a number of types of cargo :

• Bulk Cargoes (e.g. grain, or minerals)
• Neo-bulk Cargoes (e.g. blocks of granite; steel bars; rolls of paper)
• Containers (on deck or perhaps in a specially designed hold)
• Break-bulk Cargoes (e.g. bags of rice; boxes of vehicle parts; bales of wool; machinery; etc.)
• Liquid Cargoes – small amounts of liquid cargoes are sometimes carried in the deep tanks or other tanks (See earlier diagram.)

They usually have tweendecks in some holds, while other holds that do not have tweendecks are suited to the carriage of bulk cargoes.

They also have cranes to handle the cargo that they carry. Some multi-purpose ships have heavylift cranes that can lift large machines, railway locomotives, powerstation parts, or mining equipment.

Sometimes these are called General Cargoships or simply Freighters.

Multi Purpose Ships Slide 1 of 3

The Multi-Purpose Ship Purple Beach. She has five holds, one of which is built like the hold of a containership to carry containers. She also carried containers and some heavylift cargoes or other large items such as machinery or large vehicles. The other holds have tweendecks and a lower hold to enable her to carry a variety of cargoes. Note that she has cranes, some of which can work in tandem to lift heavy items of cargo. Photograph : Andrew Ingpen

Multi Purpose Ships Slide 2 of 3

A hold on a multi-purpose ship. Note the tweendeck. The blue structures are part of the cargo. Photograph : Brian Ingpen

Multi Purpose Ships Slide 3 of 3

The hold on a multi-purpose ship. The tweendeck is closed and cargo is being stowed atop the tweendeck.Photograph: Brian Ingpen