Bulk carrier: how to identify one
The workhorse of the dry trades: a long flat deck punctuated by rectangular hatch covers, machinery and accommodation squeezed right at the stern.
| Typical length | 150–300 m |
|---|---|
| Typical cargo | Iron ore, coal, grain, bauxite, cement |
| AIS type codes | 70–79 (cargo) |
| Map colour | Green (cargo) |
How to spot one
- A row of large rectangular hatch covers running most of the deck — usually five, seven or nine of them.
- Accommodation block and funnel at the extreme stern, with nothing but deck ahead of it.
- Often four or five deck cranes or derricks between the hatches; the biggest ships have none and rely on shore gear.
- Deep in the water and visibly heavy when loaded; riding high with a broad band of red antifouling showing when empty.
- No containers, no pipework on deck — that pipe manifold amidships is what makes a tanker a tanker.
What they carry
Bulk carriers move dry cargo that is simply poured into the hold: iron ore, coal, grain, bauxite, alumina, cement. There is no packaging and no container — the hold is the packaging. That single fact shapes the whole ship. The hull is a box with hatches on top, the machinery is pushed aft to leave the box uninterrupted, and the deck is kept flat and clear so grabs and conveyors can work into the holds.
Size classes
Bulkers are grouped by the waterways they can transit, which is why the class names sound like geography:
| Class | Deadweight | Constraint |
|---|---|---|
| Handysize | 10,000–35,000 t | Small ports, own cranes |
| Handymax / Supramax | 35,000–60,000 t | Geared, goes almost anywhere |
| Panamax | 60,000–80,000 t | Old Panama Canal locks |
| Capesize | 100,000 t and up | Too big for canals — rounds the capes |
A Capesize is called that because it cannot fit through Suez or Panama loaded and must go the long way round the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn.
Where you will see them
At ore and coal terminals rather than container quays — they need deep water and a lot of it. In Hamburg they work the bulk berths at Hansaport; in Rotterdam, the Maasvlakte ore terminals. Loaded departures sit noticeably low in the water, which is often the easiest way to tell a full ship from an empty one at a distance.
See them live
The live map colours bulk carriers as cargo traffic. Filter to that category and you have every one within 30 km of wherever you are looking.