Breakbulk cargo
Traditionally, the large numbers of items are recorded on distinct bills of lading that list them by different commodities.
[4] Furthermore, batches of break-bulk goods are frequently packaged in smaller containers: bags, boxes, cartons, crates, drums, or barrels/vats.
Ideally, break-bulk cargo is lifted directly into and out of a vessel's holds, and this is mostly the case today.
If hoisted on deck rather than straight into the hold, liftable or rollable goods then have to be man-handled and stowed competently by stevedores.
Since the 1960s, the volume of break-bulk cargo has enormously declined worldwide in favor of mass adoption of intermodal containers.
Break-bulk cargo is not in shipping containers—neither standard nor non-standard—instead the goods are transported, packaged in smaller containers, like bags, boxes, crates, drums, or barrels.
The cargo is brought to the quay next to the ship and then each individual item is lifted on board separately.
Bagged cargo (e.g. coffee in sacks) is stowed on double dunnage and kept clear of the ship's sides and bulk heads.
[9] Barrels which are also known as casks or tuns are primarily used for transporting liquids such as wine, water, brandy, whiskey, and even oil.
[10] Metal drums are stowed on end with dunnage between tiers, in the longitudinal space of the ship.
The biggest disadvantage with breakbulk is that it requires more resources at the wharves at both ends of a ship's journey—longshoremen, loading cranes, warehouses, transport vehicles—and often takes up more dock space due to multiple vessels carrying multiple loads of breakbulk cargo.
Indeed, the decline of breakbulk did not start with containerisation; rather, the advent of tankers and bulk carriers reduced the need for transporting liquids in barrels and grains in sacks.
Such tankers and carriers use specialised ships and shore facilities to deliver larger amounts of cargo to the dock and effect faster turnarounds with fewer personnel once the ship arrives; however, they do require large initial investments in ships, machinery, and training, slowing their spread to areas where funds to overhaul port operations and/or training for dock personnel in the handling of cargo on the newer vessels may not be available.
In all, the new systems have reduced costs as well as spillage and turnaround times; in the case of containerisation, damage and theft as well.
[citation needed] In addition, some ports capable of accepting larger container ships/tankers/bulk transporters still require goods to be offloaded in break-bulk fashion; for example, in the outlying islands of Tuvalu, fuel oil for the power stations is delivered in bulk but has to be offloaded in barrels.
