Shipping Services – Container & Conventional

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Most steel is shipped by conventional vessel due to the size of plates

There are generally two ways of shipping steel around the world. Container vessels are fast, cheap and frequent but strict have strong restriction on the shape and size of the plates to be shipped. Conventional vessels are more expensive, sail more rarely and are slower. However there are few limits on the size and weight of the load.

Container

Container vessels carry their load in ISO approved containers. The containers are standardised and come in many different forms depending on the goods to be carried. Oakley Steel uses 20’, 40’ and 45’ long containers.

	20’	40’	45’
Length	5.5m	11.8m	13.116m
Width	2.2m	2.2m	2.2m
Weight Load	21MT	26MT	25.6MT

There are generally weekly sailings from Antwerp and global transit times are quick. There are however limitations on containers. The widest standard sized plate that they can take is 2200mm meaning that large plates either have to be or shipped by conventional vessel. The overall weight limit can also be a constraint on shipping heavy plates i.e. 2 12m x 2m x 70mm plates would be too heavy for a 45’ container even though there would be plenty of space remaining. This limit is set by the capacity of the dockside cranes.

Weekly sailings to most popular destinations
Cheaper
Quicker

We will always try to ship by container vessel where possible to save time and cost.

Conventional

For larger plates we use conventional, or break–bulk, vessels. This is the more expensive option as the loading is slower and more complex. Loads are not standardized as they are in containers.

Because they can carry anything conventional vessels, unlike containers, can be induced to stop at additional ports en–route if the cargo is large enough. This increases transit time and decreases the reliability of the estimated date of arrival. We will advise you before booking if a vessel is subject to inducement.

There are also fewer conventional ships sailing each route resulting in less regular sailings, however we have an excellent shipping team at Oakley Steel and we are often able to meet closing dates that are very tight significantly reducing delivery times.

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