Hold (compartment)

Description

Cargo in holds may be either packaged in crates, bales, etc., or unpackaged (bulk cargo). Access to holds is by a large hatch at the top. Ships have had holds for centuries; an alternative way to carry cargo is in standardized shipping containers, which may be loaded into appropriate holds or carried on deck.

Holds in older ships were below the orlop deck, the lower part of the interior of a ship's hull, especially when considered as storage space, as for cargo. In later merchant vessels it extended up through the decks to the underside of the weather deck.

Some ships have built in cranes and can load and unload their own cargo. Other ships must have dock side cranes or gantry cranes to load and unload.

Cargo hatch

A cargo hatch or deck hatch or hatchway is type of door used on ships and boats to cover the opening to the cargo hold or other lower part of the ship. To make the cargo hold waterproof, most cargo holds have cargo hatch. This can be a waterproof door, like a trap door with hinges or a cover that is placed on top of the cargo hold opening, covered and held down with a tarp or a latching system. Cargo hatch can also be flexible and roll up on to a pole. A small cargo hatch to a small storage locker is called a Lazarette. Should a cargo hatch fail in a storm, the ship is at risk of sinking, such that has happened on bulk carrier hatches. Some ships that sank due to cargo hatch failure: MV Derbyshire, MV Christinaki, Bark Marques, SS Henry Steinbrenner, SS El Faro, SS Marine Electric, and the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. Most cargo hatches have a coaming, a raised edge around the hatch, to help keep out water. The term batten down the hatches is used prepare the ship for bad weather. This may included securing cargo hatch covers with wooden battens, to prevent water from entering from any angle. The term cargo hatch can also be a used for any deck opening leading to the cargo holds. Aircraft and spacecraft may also use the term for their cargo doors.

:Basic types:

• Lifting (up to remove)
• Rolling (rolls up on to a pole, trap type)
• Folding (fold up like paper or an accordion
• Sliding (slides on to the deck or over the side of ship)
• Roll stowing (roll up on to a pole, plates)

Gallery

File:SS Stevens A-deck aft cargo hatch 6.jpg|A weathered cargo hatch cover on the SS Stevens File:VIEW OF WHEELHOUSE FROM STARBOARD SIDE OF HATCH COAMING - Bugeye "Louise Travers", Intersection of Routes 2 and 4, Solomons, Calvert County, MD HAER MD,5-SOLOM,1-16.tif|Cargo hatch coaming (bottom right) on a bugeye File:JS FUZI(AGB-5001) Cargo hatch at Port of Nagoya 20150530.JPG|Cargo hatch of the ship Port of Nagoya File:Maya OBO carrier 2.jpg|A sliding Cargo hatch cover on the OBO-carrier Maya File:Containerladeräume Schiff retouched.jpg|The cargo holds of a container ship File:StateLibQld 1 148179 Omega (ship).jpg|Deck hatch of the Omega, the last square-rigged sailing cargo ship File:USS Henderson AP-1.jpg| at Panama Canal in 1933. With two open cargo hatches forward of the bridge. File:Port Chicago disaster, pier diagram.jpg|Layout from above of the five cargo holds of a Liberty ship and a Victory ship from Port Chicago disaster. File:Port Repair Ship diagram.jpg|Holds of U.S. Army Engineer Port Repair ship File:USSRankinCargoHold.jpg|The cargo hold of for combat loading File:Charles W. Morgan cargo hold.jpg|Wood cargo hold on the SS Charles W. Morgan at Mystic Seaport File:Mini-bulker loading scrap iron.jpg|Loading scrap iron in to a cargo hold with sliding covers File:Cargo hold in MAGDALENE VINNEN with crew men positioning wool bales, March 1933 (6958570450).jpg|Positioning wool bales in a hold in 1933 into the Magdalene Vinnen (1921) Image:Hatch covers on bulk carrier.jpg|The sliding hatch covers of Zaira. File:Bulk carrier midship section en.svg|Bulk carrier hold midship cross section view File:Sabrina I cropped.jpg|Sabrina I with five large holds File:Expositie Russische kunstschatten te Den Haag, Bestanddeelnr 919-4826.jpg|Cargo hold File:Alberg 22 sailboat Due Point lazarette 2504.jpg|A lazarette with a white cargo hatch cover

References

Citations

General and cited sources

• Sawyer, L. A. and W. H. Mitchell. Victory ships and tankers: The history of the 'Victory' type cargo ships and of the tankers built in the United States of America during World War II, Cornell Maritime Press, 1974, 0-87033-182-5.
• Victory Ships built by the U.S. Maritime Commission during World War II—United States Maritime Commission
• Oregon Shipyards Record Breakers Page 2: Victory Cargo Ships —World War II U.S. Navy Armed Guard and World War II U.S. Merchant Marine

References

1. [http://www.ausmepa.org.au/ships-and-the-marine-environment/6/bulk-cargo-holds.htm The ship cargo hold and the types of bulk cargoes ] {{webarchive. link. (2017-02-23)
2. [https://forshipbuilding.com/ship-types/cargo-ship/ Cargo ship: general structure, equipment and arrangement] {{webarchive. link. (2017-01-09)
3. [http://www.lanevictory.org/laneVtour_hold3.php Cargo hold tour, SS Lane] {{webarchive. link. (2016-08-02)
4. [https://www.marineinsight.com/naval-architecture/hatch-covers-types-ships/ marineinsight.com Different Types and Designs of Hatch Covers Used for Ships, by Tanumoy Sinha, January 8, 2021]