General cargo ships have not changed very much in the past 50 to 60 years. They remain multi-deck vessels of between 6 and 15 000 tons and are capable of loading dry cargo in either packaged or bulk form. Except that the superstructure has been moved aft, there is little difference fundamentally or functionally between the general cargo vessel of today and those used during the 2nd world war.

They are also referred to as “break bulk” vessels because the cargo is loaded into and broken out of their holds piece by piece. Because of containerisation, the number of general cargo vessels is likely to decrease with time.

Design features.

• They have more than one cargo deck, ie one or two ‘tween decks and a main or lower hold.
• The engine room, bridge, workshops, accommodation, etc is situated down aft.
• The vessels are equipped with their own cargo handling facilities, ie cranes and/or
  derricks
• Their size varies from 6 to 15 000 tons.

Multi purpose cargo carrier Golden Karoo.