Marine cargo can be divided into two major categories: Packed/General Cargo and Unpacked/Bulk Cargo. Unpacked or packed cargo is related to the goods itself and of course it affects what ship type should be used for transportation.

Packed/General Cargo
Furthermore, general cargo can be split into three areas of goods: Break bulk, Neo Bulk and Unitizised Cargo.

Break Bulk – is when goods are packed in shipping boxes, bags, barrels, crates, drums and on pallets. Ships used for this cargo are Bulk Carriers or combination ships.

Neo Bulk – is typically lumber, paper, steel, cars & trucks. Ships used here are bulk carriers but also specialized RoRo (vehicle carriers) ships for cars & trucks.

Unitized Cargo – is typically cargo that is packed in containers. In this case it is the container carriers that does the job through carrier onboarding.

Unpacked/Bulk Cargo
Like the packed cargo, the bulk cargo is also split into two areas: Liquid/Wet Bulk and Dry Bulk.

Liquid bulk – is typically petroleum, gasoline, LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas), liquid chemicals, juice and wine. Ships used for liquid Bulk are tankers.

Dry Bulk – is typically coal, grain, iron ore, bauxit and cement. Ship type used is geared or gearless bulk carrier.