Merchant vessel

Historical merchant trading ship: a Dutch fluyt cargo vessel from the late 17th-century

A merchant vessel or trading vessel is a boat or ship that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This excludes pleasure craft that do not carry passengers for hire; warships are also excluded.

Most countries of the world operate fleets of merchant ships. However, due to the high costs of operations, today these fleets are in many cases sailing under the flags of nations that specialize in providing manpower and services at favourable terms. Such flags are known as "flags of convenience". Currently, Liberia and Panama are particularly favoured. Ownership of the vessels can be by any country, however.

The Greek-owned fleet is the largest in the world. Today, the Greek fleet accounts for some 16 per cent of the world’s tonnage; this makes it currently the largest single international merchant fleet in the world, albeit not the largest in history.[2]

During wars, merchant ships may be used as auxiliaries to the navies of their respective countries, and are called upon to deliver military personnel and materiel.

A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usually specially designed for the task, often being equipped with cranes and other mechanisms to load and unload, and come in all sizes.

A bulk carrier is an ocean-going vessel used to transport bulk cargo items such as iron ore, bauxite, coal, cement, grain and similar cargo. Bulk carriers can be recognized by large box-like hatches on deck, designed to slide outboard or fold fore-and-aft to enable access for loading or discharging cargo. The dimensions of bulk carriers are often determined by the ports and sea routes that they need to serve, and by the maximum width of the Panama Canal. Most lakes are too small to accommodate bulk carriers, but a large fleet of lake freighters has been plying the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway of North America for over a century.

Tankers can range in size from several hundred tons, designed to serve small harbours and coastal settlements, to several hundred thousand tons, with these being designed for long-range haulage. A wide range of products are carried by tankers, including:

Among oil tankers, supertankers were designed for carrying oil around the Horn of Africa from the Middle East; the FSO Knock Nevis being the largest vessel in the world, a ULCC supertanker formerly known as Jahre Viking (Seawise Giant). It has a deadweight of 565 thousand metric tons and length of about 458 meters. The use of such large ships is in fact very unprofitable, due to the inability to operate them at full cargo capacity; hence, the production of supertankers has currently ceased. Today's largest oil tankers in comparison by gross tonnage are TI Europe, TI Asia, TI Oceania, which are the largest sailing vessels today. But even with their deadweight of 441,585 metric tons, sailing as VLCC most of the time, they do not use more than 70% of their total capacity.

Coasters, smaller ships for any category of cargo which are normally not on ocean-crossing routes, but in coastwise trades. Coasters are shallow-hulled ships used for trade between locations on the same island or continent. Their shallow hulls mean that they can get through reefs where seagoing ships usually cannot (seagoing ships have a very deep hull for supplies and trade etc.).

A passenger ship is a ship whose primary function is to carry passengers. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the formerly ubiquitous twelve-passenger freighters in which the transport of passengers is secondary to the carriage of freight. The type does however include many classes of ships which are designed to transport substantial numbers of passengers as well as freight. Indeed, until recently virtually all ocean liners were able to transport mail, package freight and express, and other cargo in addition to passenger luggage, and were equipped with cargo holds and derricks, kingposts, or other cargo-handling gear for that purpose. Modern cruiseferries have car decks for lorries as well as the passengers' cars. Only in more recent ocean liners and in virtually all cruise ships has this cargo capacity been removed.

1.
Merchant Ships
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A merchant vessel or trading vessel is a boat or ship that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This excludes pleasure craft that do not carry passengers for hire, most countries of the world operate fleets of merchant ships. However, due to the costs of operations, today these fleets are in many cases sailing under the flags of nations that specialize in providing manpower. Such flags are known as flags of convenience, currently, Liberia and Panama are particularly favoured. Ownership of the vessels can be by any country, however, the Greek-owned fleet is the largest in the world. Today, the Greek fleet accounts for some 16 per cent of the world’s tonnage, during wars, merchant ships may be used as auxiliaries to the navies of their respective countries, and are called upon to deliver military personnel and materiel. The term commercial vessel is defined by the United States Coast Guard as any vessel engaged in trade or that carries passengers for hire. In English, Merchant Navy without further clarification is used to refer to the British Merchant Navy, general cargo ships include multi-purpose and project vessels and roll-on/roll-off cargo. A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, thousands of cargo carriers ply the worlds seas and oceans each year, they handle the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usually designed for the task, often being equipped with cranes and other mechanisms to load and unload. Dry cargo ships today are mainly bulk carriers and container ships, bulk carriers or bulkers are used for the transportation of homogeneous cargo such as coal, rubber, copra, tin, and wheat. Container ships are used for the carriage of miscellaneous goods, a bulk carrier is an ocean-going vessel used to transport bulk cargo items such as iron ore, bauxite, coal, cement, grain and similar cargo. Bulk carriers can be recognized by large box-like hatches on deck, the dimensions of bulk carriers are often determined by the ports and sea routes that they need to serve, and by the maximum width of the Panama Canal. Most lakes are too small to accommodate bulk carriers, but a large fleet of lake freighters has been plying the Great Lakes, container ships are cargo ships that carry all of their load in truck-size containers, in a technique called containerization. They form a common means of commercial freight transport. A tanker is a designed to transport liquids in bulk. Tankers can range in size from several hundred tons, designed to serve small harbours and coastal settlements, to several hundred thousand tons, gas Carriers such as LNG carriers as they are typically known, are a relatively rare tanker designed to carry liquefied natural gas. It has a deadweight of 565 thousand metric tons and length of about 458 meters, the use of such large ships is in fact very unprofitable, due to the inability to operate them at full cargo capacity, hence, the production of supertankers has currently ceased

2.
Fluyt
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Reaction Engines Limited is a British aerospace manufacturer based in Oxfordshire, England. Reaction Engines was founded in 1989 by Alan Bond and Richard Varvill, the company conducts research into space propulsion systems, centred on the development of the Skylon re-usable SSTO spaceplane. The three founders worked together on the HOTOL project, funding for which was withdrawn in 1988, Skylon is a design for a single-stage-to-orbit combined-cycle-powered orbital spaceplane. The companys current research effort is focused on precooler heat exchanger technology, the company has also received funding from the EU to investigate applications of its technologies to rapid long-distance passenger transport, under the LAPCAT project. In February 2009, the European Space Agency announced that it was partially funding work on Skylons engine to produce an engine by 2011. In July 2016, at the Farnborough Air Show, Reaction Engines announced £60m in funds from the UK Space Agency, on 5 February 2008 the company announced it had designed a passenger plane to the concept stage. The A2 would be capable of flying, non stop, halfway around the world at hypersonic speed. The A2s engine, SCIMITAR, has precooler technology which is similar to SABRE, but does not have the rocket features. Reaction Engines Ltd. is currently also researching about more advanced spaceflight, the passenger module is sized to fit in the payload bay, and can carry up to 24 passengers and 1 crew. There is an ISS-type docking port and airlock as the central feature, there are two ground entry doors that align with the doors on the side of the Skylon payload bay to allow easy ground access to the cabin. The doors are fitted with conventional inflatable chutes for passengers to escape in case of any ground emergency, there are Space Shuttle-type windows on the roof of the module for passengers to enjoy the view in space. There is also a washroom and hygienic facilities provided in the cabin, the initial configuration will be fitted with five ejector seats, for four passengers and one crew, rather similar to the first four Space Shuttle spaceflights. Once the passenger module is fully certified, the seats will be removed. An upright seat will also be provided for the crew, there are also life support systems under the cabin floor, equipment bays, and cargo holds. The construction of the OBS is modular, and assumes the use of the Reaction Engines Skylon in Low Earth Orbit, the structure is based on a cylinder, designed to allow space inside the cylindrical section for the construction and repair of various spacecraft. The cylindrical structure will provide space for habitation modules with docking ports, manipulator arms. The Reaction Engines TROY is a concept of a future Manned mission to Mars, the concept arose to confirm the capability of the Skylon launch vehicle that it can and does enable large human exploration to the Solar Systems planets. The TROY spacecraft will consist of an unmanned Precursor mission, which will consist of an Earth Departure Stage, and a Mars Transfer Stage

3.
Ship
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Historically, a ship was a sailing vessel with at least three square-rigged masts and a full bowsprit. Ships are generally distinguished from boats, based on size, shape, Ships have been important contributors to human migration and commerce. They have supported the spread of colonization and the trade, but have also served scientific, cultural. After the 16th century, new crops that had come from, Ship transport is responsible for the largest portion of world commerce. As of 2016, there were more than 49,000 merchant ships, of these 28% were oil tankers, 43% were bulk carriers, and 13% were container ships. Military forces operate vessels for naval warfare and to transport and support forces ashore, the top 50 navies had a median fleet of 88 surface vessels each, according to various sources. There is no definition of what distinguishes a ship from a boat. Ships can usually be distinguished from boats based on size and the ability to operate independently for extended periods. A legal definition of ship from Indian case law is a vessel that carries goods by sea, a common notion is that a ship can carry a boat, but not vice versa. American and British 19th Century maritime law distinguished vessels from other craft, ships and boats fall in one legal category, a number of large vessels are usually referred to as boats. Other types of vessel which are traditionally called boats are Great Lakes freighters, riverboats. Though large enough to carry their own boats and heavy cargoes, in most maritime traditions ships have individual names, and modern ships may belong to a ship class often named after its first ship. The first known vessels date back about 10,000 years ago, the first navigators began to use animal skins or woven fabrics as sails. Affixed to the top of a pole set upright in a boat and this allowed men to explore widely, allowing for the settlement of Oceania for example. By around 3000 BC, Ancient Egyptians knew how to assemble wooden planks into a hull and they used woven straps to lash the planks together, and reeds or grass stuffed between the planks helped to seal the seams. Sneferus ancient cedar wood ship Praise of the Two Lands is the first reference recorded to a ship being referred to by name, the ancient Egyptians were perfectly at ease building sailboats. A remarkable example of their skills was the Khufu ship. Aksum was known by the Greeks for having seaports for ships from Greece, a panel found at Mohenjodaro depicted a sailing craft

4.
Cargo
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Multi-modal container units, designed as reusable carriers to facilitate unit load handling of the goods contained, are also referred to as cargo, specially by shipping lines and logistics operators. Similarly, aircraft ULD boxes are also documented as cargo, with associated packing list of the contained within. When empty containers are shipped each unit is documented as a cargo and when goods are stored within, seaport terminals handle a wide range of maritime cargo. Automobiles are handled at many ports and are carried on specialized roll-on/roll-off ships. Break bulk cargo is typically stacked on pallets and lifted into. The volume of bulk cargo has declined dramatically worldwide as containerization has grown. One way to secure break bulk and freight in intermodal containers is by using Dunnage Bags, bulk cargo, such as salt, oil, tallow, and scrap metal, is usually defined as commodities that are neither on pallets nor in containers. Bulk cargoes are not handled as individual pieces, the way heavy-lift, alumina, grain, gypsum, logs, and wood chips, for instance, are bulk cargoes. Neo-bulk cargo comprises individual units that are counted as they are loaded and unloaded, in contrast to bulk cargo that is not counted, containers are the largest and fastest growing cargo category at most ports worldwide. Containerized cargo includes everything from auto parts, machinery and manufacturing components to shoes and toys to frozen meat, air cargo, commonly known as air freight, is collected by firms from shippers and delivered to customers. Aircraft were first used for carrying mail as cargo in 1911, eventually manufacturers started designing aircraft for other types of freight as well. There are many commercial aircraft suitable for carrying cargo such as the Boeing 747 and the bigger An‑124, such large aircraft employ quick-loading containers known as unit load devices, much like containerized cargo ships. The ULDs are located in the front section of the aircraft, most nations own and utilize large numbers of military cargo aircraft such as the C‑17 Globemaster III for logistical needs. Popular commercial aircraft transformed to an aircraft such as Saab 340A is designed for high revenue. Trains are capable of transporting a number of containers that come from shipping ports. Trains are also used for the transportation of water, cement, grain, steel, wood and they are used because they can carry a large amount and generally have a direct route to the destination. Under the right circumstances, freight transport by rail is more economic and energy efficient than by road, the main disadvantage of rail freight is its lack of flexibility. For this reason, rail has lost much of the business to road transport

5.
Passenger
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A passenger is a person who travels in a vehicle but bears little or no responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle. Passengers are people who ride on buses, passenger trains, airliners, ships, ferryboats, historically, the concept of the passenger has existed for as long as man has been able to create means of transportation capable of carrying more people than were needed to operate the vessel. Crew members, as well as the driver or pilot of the vehicle, are not considered to be passengers. In railway parlance, passenger, as well as being the end user of a service, is also a categorisation of the type of rolling stock used, in the British case, there are several categories of passenger train. These categories include, Express passenger, which long distance. Semi-fast express passenger, a type of service that is high speed, local passenger, the lowest category of British passenger train, which provides a service that stops at all stations between major destinations, for the benefit of local populations. In transportation, a no pax trip is a trip without passengers, for example, no-pax flights are freight, ferry and positioning flights. In most jurisdictions, laws have been enacted that dictate the legal obligations of the owner of a vehicle or vessel, or of the driver or pilot of the same, towards the passengers. In other situations, however, guest statutes may limit the ability of passengers to sue the driver of the vehicle over an accident, many places require cars to be outfitted with measures specifically for the protection of passengers, such as passenger-side air bags. With respect to passengers on vehicles or vessels, both national laws and international treaties require that the carrier act with a certain standard of care. The number of passengers that a vehicle or vessel may legally carry is defined as its seating capacity, revenue passenger Media related to Passengers at Wikimedia Commons

6.
Warship
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A warship is a naval ship that is built and primarily intended for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the forces of a state. As well as being armed, warships are designed to damage and are usually faster. Unlike a merchant ship, which carries cargo, a warship typically carries weapons, ammunition. Warships usually belong to a navy, though they have also operated by individuals, cooperatives. In wartime, the distinction between warships and merchant ships is often blurred, in war, merchant ships are often armed and used as auxiliary warships, such as the Q-ships of the First World War and the armed merchant cruisers of the Second World War. Until the 17th century it was common for merchant ships to be pressed into naval service, until the threat of piracy subsided in the 19th century, it was normal practice to arm larger merchant ships such as galleons. Warships have also often used as troop carriers or supply ships. The development of catapults in the 4th century BC and the subsequent refinement of technology enabled the first fleets of artillery-equipped warships by the Hellenistic age. During late antiquity, ramming fell out of use and the galley tactics against other ships used during the Middle Ages until the late 16th century focused on boarding. Naval artillery was redeveloped in the 14th century, but cannon did not become common at sea until the guns were capable of being reloaded quickly enough to be reused in the same battle. The size of a required to carry a large number of cannons made oar-based propulsion impossible. The sailing man-of-war emerged during the 16th century, by the middle of the 17th century, warships were carrying increasing numbers of cannon on their broadsides and tactics evolved to bring each ships firepower to bear in a line of battle. The man-of-war now evolved into the ship of the line, in the 18th century, the frigate and sloop-of-war – too small to stand in the line of battle – evolved to convoy trade, scout for enemy ships and blockade enemy coasts. During the 19th century a revolution took place in the means of propulsion, naval armament. Marine steam engines were introduced, at first as an auxiliary force, the Crimean War gave a great stimulus to the development of guns. The introduction of explosive shells soon led to the introduction of iron, the first ironclad warships, the French Gloire and British Warrior, made wooden vessels obsolete. Metal soon entirely replaced wood as the material for warship construction

7.
Dive boat
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A dive boat is a boat that recreational divers or professional scuba divers use to reach a dive site which they could not conveniently reach by swimming from the shore. Dive boats may be propelled by wind or muscle, but are powered by internal combustion engines. Some feature, like convenient access to the water, are common to all dive boats, deployment of divers may be while moored, at anchor, or under way. The dive boat provides a means of transport to and from dive sites which may be too far or inconvenient for shore access and this is the case with the majority of recreational dive sites. It can also provide a base of operations where the divers can shelter, rest, store and change gear, socialise with other divers, eat and they can provide enhanced safety, comfort and convenience, and provide guided access to sites of particular interest. They can also access to diving procedures which may be difficult. Features that make a suitable for use by divers are, Sufficient space and stability to carry the divers. Facilities for the divers to enter the water from the boat, the usual classification of recreational dive boats based on operational parameters includes, the basic dive boat the day boat the live-aboard Some overlap of function is possible. Dive boats may be owned and operated, or run as a commercial business. The structure, layout and size of a boat for any given application may vary considerably according to regional requirements and traditions. They generally have no other than seating and stowage for dive gear. It is common for divers to kit up in their dive suits before boarding and it is unusual for the operator to provide refreshments other than bottled drinking water and an after-dive candy. Divers only spend a few hours at a time on these fast, the boats are usually relatively small so they can easily be transported on roads and launched at a convenient site depending on the weather. Boats of this size can be launched from slipways or through the surf on suitable beaches, the smaller models are suitable for amateur divers, as they can only transport a few divers. The larger boats can carry enough divers to be viable for professional use and these boats will generally carry basic safety equipment such as marine VHF radio, small boat safety gear, lifejackets and first aid oxygen administration equipment. Interior space is limited, and divers generally travel and kit up while sitting on the tubes opposite a central cylinder rack where the fully rigged scuba sets are stowed. Some boats have ladders which hook over the tubes to make boarding easier for the less athletic diver and these boats are usually fairly fast, maneuverable, seaworthy in surf and rough conditions, and relatively uncomfortable. These serve a function to the Rigid-hulled inflatable boats

8.
Riverboat casino
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A riverboat casino is a type of casino on a riverboat found in several states in the United States with frontage on the Mississippi River and its tributaries, or along the Gulf Coast. Paddlewheel riverboats had long used on the Mississippi River and its tributaries to transport passengers. After railroads largely superseded them, in the 20th century, they were frequently used for entertainment excursions, sometimes for several hours. They were often a way for people to escape the heat of the town, as well as to live music. Gambling was also common on the riverboats, in card games, in some areas, gambling was allowed only when the ship was sailing, as in the traditional excursions. They were approved in states with frontage along the Mississippi and its tributaries, including Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, as an example, in 1994 Missouri voters approved amending the state constitution to allow games of chance on the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. By 1998, according to the state Gaming Commission, just three of the 16 operations comprising Missouris $652-million riverboat gambling industry clearly on the river channel. The state supreme court had ruled that boats had to be solely over, several casinos had been located on riverboats located in a moat or an area with water adjacent to a navigable waterway, leading them to be referred to as boats in moats. The state legislatures were unwilling to give up the revenues generated by gambling, over time, they allowed gaming casinos to be built on stilts but they still had to be over navigable water. They permitted such casinos to be built on land within certain geographic limits from a navigable waterway, most of Mississippis Gulf Coast riverboat casinos have been rebuilt since the hurricane. Partial listing of permanently moored casinos, DeJong and Lebet, Inc. Naval Architects and Marine Designers

9.
Tugboats
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A tug is a boat or ship that maneuvers vessels by pushing or towing them. Tugboats are powerful for their size and strongly built, and some are ocean-going, some tugboats serve as icebreakers or salvage boats. Early tugboats had steam engines, but today most have diesel engines, many tugboats have firefighting monitors, allowing them to assist in firefighting, especially in harbors. Seagoing tugs fall into four categories, The standard seagoing tug with model bow that tows its payload on a hawser. The notch tug which can be secured in a notch at the stern of a specially designed barge and this configuration is dangerous to use with a barge which is in ballast or in a head- or following sea. Therefore, notch tugs are usually built with a towing winch and these units stay combined under virtually any sea conditions and the tugs usually have poor sea-keeping designs for navigation without their barges attached. Vessels in this category are considered to be ships rather than tugboats. These vessels must show navigation lights compliant with those required of ships rather than required of tugboats. Articulated tug and barge units also utilize mechanical means to connect to their barges, the tug slips into a notch in the stern and is attached by a hinged connection. ATBs generally utilize Intercon and Bludworth connecting systems, aTBs are generally staffed as a large tugboat, with between seven and nine crew members. The typical American ATB operating on the east coast customarily displays navigational lights of a towing vessel pushing ahead, compared to seagoing tugboats, harbour tugboats are generally smaller and their width-to-length ratio is often higher, due to the need for a lower draught. In smaller harbours these are also termed lunch bucket boats, because they are only manned when needed and only at a minimum. The number of tugboats in a harbour varies with the harbour infrastructure, things to take into consideration includes ships with/without bow thrusters and forces like wind, current and waves and types of ship. River tugs are also referred to as towboats or pushboats and their hull designs would make open ocean operation dangerous. River tugs usually do not have any significant hawser or winch and their hulls feature a flat front or bow to line up with the rectangular stern of the barge, often with large pushing knees. Tugboat engines typically produce 500 to 2,500 kW, for safety, tugboats engines often feature two of each critical part for redundancy. A tugboats power is stated by its engines horsepower and its overall bollard pull. The largest commercial harbour tugboats in the 2000s-2010s, used for towing container ships or similar, had around 60-65 tons of bollard pull, Tugboats are highly maneuverable, and various propulsion systems have been developed to increase maneuverability and increase safety

10.
New York Harbor
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New York Harbor, part of the Port of New York and New Jersey, is at the mouth of the Hudson River where it empties into New York Bay and into the Atlantic Ocean at the East Coast of the United States. It is one of the largest natural harbors in the world, although the United States Board on Geographic Names does not use the term, New York Harbor has important historical, governmental, commercial, and ecological usages. The aboriginal population of the 16th century New York Harbor, the Lenape, used the waterways for fishing and it is fairly firmly held by historians that his ship anchored at the approximate location where the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge touches down in Brooklyn today. He also observed what he believed to be a freshwater lake to the north. He apparently did not travel north to observe the existence of the Hudson River, in 1609 Henry Hudson entered the Harbor and explored a stretch of the river that now bears his name. His journey prompted others to explore the region and engage in trade with the local population, in 1624 the first permanent European settlement was started on Governors Island, and eight years later in Brooklyn, soon these were connected by ferry operation. This prepared New York as a port for the British colonies. In 1686, the British colonial officials gave the municipality control over the waterfront, in 1808, Lieutenant Thomas Gedney of the United States Coast Survey discovered a new, deeper channel through The Narrows into New York Harbor. Because of the difficulty of the required, since 1694. The new channel Gedney discovered was 2 feet deeper, enough of a margin that fully laden ships could come into the harbor even at slack tide. Gedneys Channel, as it came to be called, was shorter than the previous channel, another benefit appreciated by the ship owners. Gedney received the praise of the city, as well as a silver service. In 1824 the first American drydock was completed on the East River, the Morris Canal, carrying anthracite and freight from Pennsylvania through New Jersey to its terminus at the mouth of the Hudson in Jersey City. Portions in the harbor are now part of Liberty State Park, in 1870, the city established the Department of Docks to systematize waterfront development, with George B. McClellan as the first engineer in chief. By the turn of the 20th century numerous railroad terminals lined the banks of the North River in Hudson County. The freight was ferried across by the railroads with small fleets of towboats, barges. New York subsidized this service which undercut rival ports, major road improvements allowing for trucking and containerization diminished the need. The Statue of Liberty National Monument recalls the period of immigration to the United States at the turn of the 20th century

11.
Container ship
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Container ships are cargo ships that carry all of their load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. They are a means of commercial intermodal freight transport and now carry most seagoing non-bulk cargo. Container ship capacity is measured in equivalent units. Typical loads are a mix of 20-foot and 40-foot ISO-standard containers, today, about 90% of non-bulk cargo worldwide is transported by container, and modern container ships can carry over 19,000 TEU. Container ships now rival crude oil tankers and bulk carriers as the largest commercial vessels on the ocean, there are two main types of dry cargo, bulk cargo and break bulk cargo. Bulk cargoes, like grain or coal, are transported unpackaged in the hull of the ship, break-bulk cargoes, on the other hand, are transported in packages, and are generally manufactured goods. Before the advent of containerization in the 1950s, break-bulk items were loaded, lashed, unlashed and unloaded from the one piece at a time. However, by grouping cargo into containers,1,000 to 3,000 cubic feet of cargo, or up to about 64,000 pounds, is moved at once and each container is secured to the ship once in a standardized way. Containerization has increased the efficiency of moving traditional break-bulk cargoes significantly, reducing shipping time by 84%, in 2001, more than 90% of world trade in non-bulk goods was transported in ISO containers. In 2009, almost one quarter of the dry cargo was shipped by container. The first ships designed to carrying standardized load units were use in the late 18th century in England, in 1766 James Brindley designed the box boat Starvationer with 10 wooden containers, to transport coal from Worsley Delph to Manchester by Bridgewater Canal. Before the Second World War first container ships were used to carrying baggages of the passenger train from London to Paris, Golden Arrow/Fleche dOr. These containers were loaded in London or Paris and carried to ports, Dover or Calais, on cars in the UK. The earliest container ships after the Second World War were converted to tankers, in 1951, the first purpose-built container vessels began operating in Denmark, and between Seattle and Alaska. The first commercially successful container ship was Ideal X, a T2 tanker, owned by Malcom McLean, in 1955, McLean built his company, McLean Trucking into one of United States biggest freighter fleets. In 1955, he purchased the small Pan Atlantic Steamship Company from Waterman Steamship, on April 26,1956, the first of these rebuilt container vessels, Ideal X, left the Port Newark in New Jersey and a new revolution in modern shipping resulted. Container vessels eliminate the individual hatches, holds and dividers of the general cargo vessels. The hull of a container ship is a huge warehouse divided into cells by vertical guide rails

12.
Submarine
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A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability, the term most commonly refers to a large, crewed vessel. It is also used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely operated vehicles and robots, as well as medium-sized or smaller vessels, such as the midget submarine. The noun submarine evolved as a form of submarine boat, by naval tradition, submarines are usually referred to as boats rather than as ships. Although experimental submarines had been built before, submarine design took off during the 19th century, Submarines were first widely used during World War I, and now figure in many navies large and small. Civilian uses for submarines include marine science, salvage, exploration and facility inspection, Submarines can also be modified to perform more specialized functions such as search-and-rescue missions or undersea cable repair. Submarines are also used in tourism, and for undersea archaeology, most large submarines consist of a cylindrical body with hemispherical ends and a vertical structure, usually located amidships, which houses communications and sensing devices as well as periscopes. In modern submarines, this structure is the sail in American usage, a conning tower was a feature of earlier designs, a separate pressure hull above the main body of the boat that allowed the use of shorter periscopes. There is a propeller at the rear, and various hydrodynamic control fins, smaller, deep-diving and specialty submarines may deviate significantly from this traditional layout. Submarines use diving planes and also change the amount of water, Submarines have one of the widest ranges of types and capabilities of any vessel. Submarines can work at greater depths than are survivable or practical for human divers, modern deep-diving submarines derive from the bathyscaphe, which in turn evolved from the diving bell. In 1578, the English mathematician William Bourne recorded in his book Inventions or Devises one of the first plans for an underwater navigation vehicle and its unclear whether he ever carried out his idea. The first submersible of whose construction there exists reliable information was designed and built in 1620 by Cornelis Drebbel and it was propelled by means of oars. By the mid-18th century, over a dozen patents for submarines/submersible boats had been granted in England, in 1747, Nathaniel Symons patented and built the first known working example of the use of a ballast tank for submersion. His design used leather bags that could fill with water to submerge the craft, a mechanism was used to twist the water out of the bags and cause the boat to resurface. In 1749, the Gentlemens Magazine reported that a design had initially been proposed by Giovanni Borelli in 1680. By this point of development, further improvement in design stagnated for over a century, until new industrial technologies for propulsion. The first military submarine was the Turtle, a hand-powered acorn-shaped device designed by the American David Bushnell to accommodate a single person and it was the first verified submarine capable of independent underwater operation and movement, and the first to use screws for propulsion

13.
U.S. Virgin Islands
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The United States Virgin Islands, officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of islands in the Caribbean that are an insular area of the United States. The islands are part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles. The U. S. Virgin Islands consist of the islands of Saint Croix, Saint John, and Saint Thomas. The total land area of the territory is 133.73 square miles, the territorys capital is Charlotte Amalie on the island of Saint Thomas. Previously the Danish West Indies of the Kingdom of Denmark–Norway, they were sold to the United States by Denmark in the Treaty of the Danish West Indies of 1916. They are classified by the U. N. as a Non-Self-Governing Territory, the U. S. Virgin Islands are organized under the 1954 Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands and have since held five constitutional conventions. The Fifth Constitutional Convention of the U. S. Virgin Islands met in October 2012 to address these concerns, in 2010 the population was 106,405, and mostly Afro-Caribbean. Tourism and related categories are the economic activity, employing a high percentage of the civilian non-farm labor force that totalled 42,752 persons in 2016. Private sector jobs made up 71 percent of the total workforce, the average private sector salary was $34,088 and the average public sector salary was $52,572. In a May 2016 report, some 11,000 people were categorized as being involved in some aspect of agriculture in the first half of 2016, at that time, there were approximately 607 manufacturing jobs and 1,487 natural resource and construction jobs. The single largest employer was the government, in mid February 2017, the USVI was facing a financial crisis due to a very high debt level of $2 billion and a structural budget deficit of $110 million. The U. S. Virgin Islands were originally inhabited by the Ciboney, Carib, the islands were named by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage in 1493 for Saint Ursula and her virgin followers. Over the next two hundred years, the islands were held by many European powers, including Spain, Great Britain, the Netherlands, France, and Denmark-Norway. The Danish West India Company settled on Saint Thomas in 1672, settled on Saint John in 1694, the islands became royal Danish colonies in 1754, named the Danish West Indian Islands. Sugarcane, produced by labor, drove the islands economy during the 18th and early 19th centuries. The Danish West India and Guinea Company are also credited with naming the island St. John, the Danish crown took full control of Saint John in 1754 along with St. Thomas and St. Croix. Sugarcane plantations such as the famous Annaberg Sugar Plantation were established in great numbers on St. John because of the intense heat, the establishment of sugarcane plantations also led to the buying of more slaves from Africa. In 1733 St. John was the site of one of the first significant slave rebellions in the New World when Akwamu slaves from the Gold Coast took over the island for six months, the Danish were able to defeat the enslaved Africans with help from the French in Martinique

14.
Flags of convenience
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Flag of convenience is a business practice whereby a merchant ship is registered in a country other than that of the ships owners, and the ship flies that countrys civil ensign. Owners of a ship may register the ship under a flag of convenience to reduce operating costs or avoid the regulations of the owners country, the closely related term open registry, which describes a ship register that will register foreign-owned ships, also exists. The term flag of convenience has been in use since the 1950s, a ship operates under the laws of its flag state, and these laws are used if the ship is involved in a case under admiralty law. The use of open registries steadily increased, and in 1968, in 2006 up to 20% of high-seas fishing vessels were registered in states they were not connected to. Flag-of-convenience registries are criticized, mostly by trade union based in developed countries. On the other hand, maritime industry practitioners and seafarers from other countries contest that this is a product of globalisation. Seafarers from developed countries must make themselves competitive if they wish to take advantage, as of 2009, thirteen flag states have been found by international shipping organizations to have substandard regulations. A basis for many criticisms is that the system allows shipowners to be legally anonymous and difficult to prosecute in civil. As of 2009, ships of thirteen flags of convenience are targeted for special enforcement by countries that they visit, supporters of the practice, however, point to economic and regulatory advantages, and increased freedom in choosing employees from an international labor pool. International law requires that merchant ship be registered in a country. The country in which a ship is registered is its state. A ships flag state exercises regulatory control over the vessel and is required to inspect it regularly, certify the ships equipment and crew, a ship operates under the laws of its flag state, and these laws are used if the ship is involved in an admiralty case. The organization which actually registers the ship is known as its registry, Registries may be governmental or private agencies. National or closed registries typically require a ship be owned and constructed by national interests, conversely, open registries frequently offer on-line registration with few questions asked. The use of flags of convenience lowers registration and maintenance costs, the environmental disaster caused by the 1978 sinking of the MV Amoco Cadiz, which flew the Liberian flag, spurred the creation of a new type of maritime enforcement. Resulting from strong political and public outcry over the Amoco Cadiz sinking, under port state control, ships in international trade became subject to inspection by the states they visit. In addition to living and working conditions, these inspections cover items concerning the safety of life at sea. In cases when a state inspection uncovers problems with a ship

15.
Transport in Panama
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Transport in Panama is fairly well developed. The majority of the trips are done by car while a part in public transport. The public transportation system is in need of modernization and other improvements, in Panama there are 4 expressways working, all of them requiring toll payment, Corredor Sur, Runs from Panama City to the Tocumen International Airport. Corredor Norte, Runs from Panama City to Colinas de Cerro Viento and it has a length of 20 km. Autopista La Chorrera, Runs from Panama City to La Chorrera and it has a length of 44 km. Colón Expressway, Runs from Panama City to Colón and it has a length of 59 km. Furthermore, the Pan-American highway, has upgraded to a 4-lane, dual carriageway highway on its stretch from Panama City to Santiago de Veraguas. Also, a section of the Pan-American highway from Tocumen to Pacora. Panamas roads, traffic and transportation systems are generally safe, but traffic lights often do not exist, driving is often hazardous and demanding due to dense traffic, undisciplined driving habits, poorly maintained streets, and a lack of effective signs and traffic signals. On roads where poor lighting and driving conditions prevail, night driving is difficult, night driving is particularly hazardous on the old Panama City – Colon highway. Buses and taxis are not always maintained in a safe operating condition due to lack of regulatory enforcement, since 2007, auto insurance is mandatory in Panama. Traffic in Panama moves on the right, and Panamanian law requires that drivers and passengers wear seat belts, flooding during the April to December rainy season occasionally makes city streets impassable and washes out some roads in the interior of the country. In addition, rural areas are poorly maintained and lack illumination at night. Such roads are generally less traveled and the availability of emergency assistance is very limited. Road travel is dangerous during the rainy season and in the interior from Carnival through Good Friday. Carnival starts the Saturday prior to Ash Wednesday and goes on for four days. cia. gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index. html

16.
Greek shipping
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Greece is a maritime nation by tradition, as shipping is arguably the oldest form of occupation of the Greeks and has been a key element of Greek economic activity since ancient times. Today, shipping is the countrys most important industry and it accounts for 6. 5% of GDP, employs about 290,000 people, and shipping receipts are about 1/3 of the nations trade deficit. Greece is also ranked in the top for all kinds of ships, including first for tankers, the 7th Secretary General of the International Maritime Organization was Efthymios Mitropoulos. The Greeks have been a nation since antiquity, as the mountainous landscape of the mainland, and the limited farming area. In Greece and the wider Aegean, international trade existed from the Minoan and Mycenean times in the Bronze Age, the prowess of the ancient Greek navy was primarily displayed in naval battles during the Persian wars, the Delian League era and the Peloponnesian war. They expanded their activities and trade towards western Europe in the 16th century. The restrictions imposed by the Ottomans to regulate the trade did not prevent the Greeks from carrying out illicit trade which brought considerable fortunes to them. Although they did not have their own flag, they flew the flags of the Russian. In 1792, the first Greek insurance company was founded in Trieste, gradually, Greek seafarers made a lot of money and gained further knowledge and experience as they had to refine their ships and themselves in warfare against pirates. The growth of the Greek merchant fleet gave confidence and success to them, while their contact with the western peoples awakened their national consciousness, Greek merchants also provided the material basis for the Neohellenic Diafotismos. Impelled by the sense of patriotism that had always been strong in the Greek world, they endowed schools. The three most important schools-cum-colleges in the Greek world on the eve of the War of Independence were situated in Smyrna, Chios, in the wake of the nineteenth century diaspora the Chiot families were well positioned to take advantage of the commercial opportunities across Europe after the Napoleonic Wars. Families such as the Rallis were already established in Marseille and London and they established a network of shipping specialists across all of the major ports in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Gaining a seat on the Baltic Exchange, Ralli brothers were able to introduce shippers and agents to reliable sources of funding and through Lloyds of London, uniquely, this enabled them finance their fleets with the ships acting as security, a practice that was illegal in Greece. In some parts of the world these fleets were Greek-owned, the major shipping companies were then owned by Papayanni, Spartali and Schilizzi, while the Rodocanachi family became pre-eminent traders in their cargoes. Accompanying these Greek-run fleets were local communities of workmen and agent-translators who managed the unfamiliar customs. In these times before the telegraph, this gave the Greek shippers advance warning of events and allowed them to control news. Many changes and upheavals affected their markets, the Russian Revolution, after the end of World War II the Greek-run fleets were able to re-establish themselves under their national flag

17.
Navy
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A navy or maritime force is a fleet of waterborne military vessels and its associated naval aviation, both sea-based and land-based. It is the branch of an armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare, namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations. The strategic offensive role of a navy is projection of force into areas beyond a countrys shores, the strategic defensive purpose of a navy is to frustrate seaborne projection-of-force by enemies. The strategic task of the navy also may incorporate nuclear deterrence by use of submarine-launched ballistic missiles. In most nations, the naval, as opposed to navy, is interpreted as encompassing all maritime military forces, e. g. navy, marine / marine corps. First attested in English in the early 14th century, the navy came via Old French navie, fleet of ships, from the Latin navigium, a vessel. The word naval came from Latin navalis, pertaining to ship, cf. Greek ναῦς, ship, ναύτης, seaman, the earliest attested form of the word is in the Mycenaean Greek compound word

18.
Military
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The task of the military is usually defined as defense of the state, and its citizens, and the prosecution of war against another state. The profession of soldiering as part of a military is older than recorded history itself, some of the most enduring images of the classical antiquity portray the power and feats of its military leaders. The Battle of Kadesh in 1274 BC was one of the points of Pharaoh Ramses IIs reign. A thousand years later, the first emperor of unified China, Qin Shi Huang, was so determined to impress the gods with his military might, he was buried with an army of terracotta soldiers. The Romans were dedicated to military matters, leaving to posterity many treatises and writings, as well as a number of lavishly carved triumphal arches. Issue, Possibly cognate with Thousand, cf. Latin and Romance language root word mil-) The first recorded use of the military in English. It comes from the Latin militaris through French, but is of uncertain etymology, the word is now identified as denoting someone that is skilled in use of weapons, or engaged in military service, or in warfare. As a noun, the military usually refers generally to an armed forces, or sometimes, more specifically. In general, it refers to the physicality of armed forces, their personnel, equipment, as an adjective, military originally referred only to soldiers and soldiering, but it soon broadened to apply to land forces in general, and anything to do with their profession. The names of both the Royal Military Academy and United States Military Academy reflect this, as such, it now connotes any activity performed by armed force personnel. Military history is considered to be the history of all conflicts. Military history has a number of facets, one main facet is to learn from past accomplishments and mistakes, so as to more effectively wage war in the future. Another is to create a sense of tradition, which is used to create cohesive military forces. Still another may be to learn to prevent wars more effectively, human knowledge about the military is largely based on both recorded and oral history of military conflicts, their participating armies and navies and, more recently, air forces. In the whole history of humanity, every nation had different needs for military forces, how these needs are determined forms the basis of their composition, equipment, and use of facilities. It also determines what military does in terms of peacetime, All military forces, whether large or small, are military organizations that have official state, and world recognition as such. Organisations with similar features are paramilitary, civil defense, militia and these commonalities of the states military define them. Another role of military personnel is to ensure a continuous replacement of departing servicemen and women through recruitment

19.
United States Coast Guard
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The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the countrys seven uniformed services. This has happened twice, in 1917, during World War I, created by Congress on 4 August 1790 at the request of Alexander Hamilton as the Revenue Marine, it is the oldest continuous seagoing service of the United States. As Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton headed the Revenue Marine, by the 1860s, the service was known as the U. S. Revenue Cutter Service and the term Revenue Marine gradually fell into disuse, the modern Coast Guard was formed by a merger of the Revenue Cutter Service and the U. S. Life-Saving Service on 28 January 1915, under the U. S. Department of the Treasury. As one of the five armed services, the Coast Guard has been involved in every U. S. war from 1790 to the Iraq War. As of 2014 the Coast Guard had over 36,000 men and women on duty,7,350 reservists,29,620 auxiliarists. In terms of size, the U. S. Coast Guard by itself is the worlds 12th largest naval force. Because of its authority, the Coast Guard can conduct military operations under the U. S. Department of Defense or directly for the President in accordance with Title 14 USC 1–3. The Coast Guards enduring roles are maritime safety, security, to carry out those roles, it has 11 statutory missions as defined in 6 U. S. C. §468, which include enforcing U. S. law in the worlds largest exclusive economic zone of 3.4 million square miles, the Coast Guards motto is the Latin phrase, Semper Paratus. In a 2005 article in Time magazine following Hurricane Katrina, the author wrote, the Coast Guards most valuable contribution to may be as a model of flexibility, and most of all, spirit. Wil Milam, a swimmer from Alaska told the magazine, In the Navy. Practicing for war, training for war, in the Coast Guard, it was, take care of our people and the mission will take care of itself. The Coast Guard carries out three basic roles, which are subdivided into eleven statutory missions. Both agencies maintain rescue coordination centers to coordinate this effort, and have responsibility for military and civilian search and rescue. The two services jointly provide instructor staff for the National Search and Rescue School that trains SAR mission planners and coordinators, previously located on Governors Island, New York, the school is now located at Coast Guard Training Center Yorktown at Yorktown, Virginia. The NRC also takes Maritime Suspicious Activity and Security Breach Reports, details on the NRC organization and specific responsibilities can be found in the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan. The Marine Information for Safety and Law Enforcement database system is managed and used by the Coast Guard for tracking pollution, the five uniformed services that make up the U. S

20.
Trade
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Trade, or commerce, involves the transfer of goods or services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. A network that allows trade is called a market, the original form of trade, barter, saw the direct exchange of goods and services for other goods and services. Barter is trading things without the use of money, later one side of the barter started to involve precious metals, which gained symbolic as well as practical importance. Modern traders generally negotiate through a medium of exchange, such as money, as a result, buying can be separated from selling, or earning. The invention of money greatly simplified and promoted trade, Trade between two traders is called bilateral trade, while trade between more than two traders is called multilateral trade. Trade exists due to the specialization and division of labor, in which most people concentrate on an aspect of production. As such, trade at prices between locations can benefit both locations. Trade originated with human communication in prehistoric times, trading was the main facility of prehistoric people, who bartered goods and services from each other before the innovation of modern-day currency. Peter Watson dates the history of commerce from circa 150,000 years ago. In the Mediterranean region the earliest contact between cultures were of members of the species Homo sapiens principally using the Danube river, at a time beginning 35–30,000 BCE, Trade is believed to have taken place throughout much of recorded human history. There is evidence of the exchange of obsidian and flint during the stone age, Trade in obsidian is believed to have taken place in Guinea from 17,000 BCE. The earliest use of obsidian in the Near East dates to the Lower, Trade in the stone age was investigated by Robert Carr Bosanquet in excavations of 1901. Trade is believed to have first begun in south west Asia, obsidian was traded at distances of 900 kilometres within the Mediterranean region. Trade in the Mediterranean during the Neolithic of Europe was greatest in this material, networks were in existence at around 12,000 BCE Anatolia was the source primarily for trade with the Levant, Iran and Egypt according to Zarins study of 1990. Melos and Lipari sources produced among the most widespread trading in the Mediterranean region as known to archaeology, the Sari-i-Sang mine in the mountains of Afghanistan was the largest source for trade of Lapis Lazuli. The material was most largely traded during the Kassite period of Babylonia beginning 1595 BCE, ebla was a prominent trading centre during the third millennia, with a network reaching into Anatolia and north Mesopotamia. Materials used for creating jewelry were traded with Egypt since 3000 BCE, long-range trade routes first appeared in the 3rd millennium BCE, when Sumerians in Mesopotamia traded with the Harappan civilization of the Indus Valley. The Phoenicians were noted sea traders, traveling across the Mediterranean Sea, for this purpose they established trade colonies the Greeks called emporia

21.
British Merchant Navy
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The Merchant Navy is the maritime register of the United Kingdom, and describes the seagoing commercial interests of UK-registered ships and their crews. Merchant Navy vessels fly the Red Ensign and are regulated by the Maritime, king George V bestowed the title of Merchant Navy on the British merchant shipping fleets following their service in the First World War, a number of other nations have since adopted the title. The Merchant Navy has been in existence for a significant period in British history, owing much of its growth to British imperial expansion. As an entity in itself it can be dated back to the 17th century and that registration of merchant seafarers failed, and it was not successfully implemented until 1835. The merchant fleet grew over years to become the worlds foremost merchant fleet, benefiting considerably from trade with British possessions in India. The lucrative trade in sugar, contraband, spices and tea helped to solidify this dominance in the 19th century, in the First and Second World Wars, the Merchant Service suffered heavy losses from German U-boat attacks. A policy of unrestricted warfare meant that merchant seafarers were also at risk of attack from enemy ships, the tonnage lost to U-boats in the First World War was around 7,759,090 tons, and around 14,661 merchant seafarers were killed. In honour of the sacrifice made by merchant seafarers in the First World War, since Edward VIII the title has automatically been held by the sovereigns George VI and Elizabeth II. To each one I would say, Yours is a no less essential to my peoples experience than that allotted to the Navy, Army. Upon you the Nation depends for much of its foodstuffs and raw materials and you have a long and glorious history, and I am proud to bear the title Master of the Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets. I know that you carry out your duties with resolution and with fortitude. God keep you and prosper you in your great task, in the Second World War, German U-boats sank nearly 14.7 million tons of Allied shipping, which amounted to 2,828 ships. The United Kingdom alone suffered the loss of 11.7 million tons,32,000 merchant seafarers were killed aboard convoy vessels in the war, but along with the Royal Navy, the convoys successfully imported enough supplies to allow an Allied victory. In honour of the made in the two World Wars, the Merchant Navy lays wreaths of remembrance alongside the armed forces in the annual Remembrance Day service on 11 November. Despite maintaining its dominant position for decades, the decline of the British Empire in the mid-20th century inevitably led to the decline of the merchant fleet. For example, in 1939 the Merchant Navy was the largest in the world with 33% of total tonnage, by 2012, the Merchant Navy - yet still remaining one of the largest in the world - held only 3% of total tonnage. According to the CIA World Fact Book, in 2010 the Merchant Navy consisted of 504 UK registered ships of 1,000 gross register tons or over. In addition, UK merchant marine interests possessed a further 308 ships registered in countries and 271 foreign-owned ships were registered in the UK

22.
United States Merchant Marine
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The United States Merchant Marine refers to either United States civilian mariners, or to U. S. civilian and federally owned merchant vessels. Merchant Marine officers may also be commissioned as officers by the Department of Defense. This is commonly achieved by commissioning unlimited tonnage Merchant Marine officers as Strategic Sealift Officers in the Naval Reserves. As of 31 December 2016, the United States merchant fleet had 175 privately owned, oceangoing, self-propelled vessels of 1,000 gross register tons, nearly 800 American-owned ships are flagged in other nations. In 2004, the government employed approximately 5% of all American water transportation workers. In the 19th and 20th centuries, various laws fundamentally changed the course of American merchant shipping and these laws put an end to common practices such as flogging and shanghaiing, and increased shipboard safety and living standards. The United States Merchant Marine is also governed by more than 25 international conventions to promote safety, the Court held that the Secretary of the Air Force abused its discretion in denying active military service recognition to American merchant seamen who participated in World War II. Captains, mates, and pilots supervise ship operations on domestic waterways, a captain is in overall command of a vessel, and supervises the work of other officers and crew. A captain has the ability to take the conn from a mate or pilot at any time he feels the need, on smaller vessels the captain may be a regular watch-stander, similar to a mate, directly controlling the vessels position. Captains directly communicate with the company or command, and are responsible for cargo, various logs, ships documents, credentials, efforts at controlling pollution. Mates direct a ships routine operation for the captain during work shifts, mates stand watch for specified periods, usually in three duty sections, with 4 hours on watch and 8 hours off. When on a watch, mates direct a bridge team by conning, directing courses through the helmsman. When more than one mate is necessary aboard a ship, they typically are designated chief mate or first mate, second mate, in addition to watch standers, mates directly supervise the ships crew, and are assigned other tasks. The chief mate is usually in charge of cargo, stability and the crew, the second mate in charge of navigation plans and updates. Harbor pilots guide ships in and out of confined waterways, such as harbors, harbor pilots are generally independent contractors who accompany vessels while they enter or leave port, and may pilot many ships in a single day. Ships engineers operate, maintain, and repair engines, boilers, generators, pumps, Merchant marine vessels usually have four engineering officers, a chief engineer and a first, second, and third assistant engineer. On many ships, Assistant Engineers stand periodic watches, overseeing the operation of engines. However, most modern ships sailing today utilize Unmanned Machinery Space automation technology, at night and during meals and breaks, the engine room is unmanned and machinery alarms are answered by the Duty Engineer

23.
Cable layer
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A cable layer or cable ship is a deep-sea vessel designed and used to lay underwater cables for telecommunications, electric power transmission, or other purposes. Cable ships are distinguished by large cable sheaves for guiding cable over bow or stern or both, the names of cable ships are often preceded by C. S. as in CS Long Lines. The first transatlantic cable was laid by cable layers from 1857–58. It briefly enabled telecommunication between Europe and North America before misuse resulted in failure of the line, in 1866 the SS Great Eastern successfully laid two transatlantic cables, securing future communication between the continents. Modern cable ships differ greatly from their predecessors, there are two main types of cable ships, cable repair ships and cable-laying ships. Cable repair ships, like the Japanese Tsugaru Maru, tend to be smaller and more maneuverable, they are capable of laying cable, a cable-laying ship, like the Long Lines, is designed to lay new cables. These ships are generally equipped with a liner cable engine that helps them lay cable quickly. The newest design of cable layers, though, is a combination of cable-laying, an example is the USNS Zeus, the only U. S. naval cable layer/repair ship. The Zeus uses two diesel engines that produce 5000 horsepower each and can carry her up to 15 knots. The purpose of the Zeus was to be a ship that could do anything required of it, so the ship was built to be able to lay. This design was similar to that of the first cable ship, the Zeus was built to be as maneuverable as possible so that it could fulfill both roles, as a cable layer or a cable repair ship. To ensure that cable is laid and retrieved properly, specially designed equipment must be used, different equipment is used on cable-laying ships depending on what their job requires. In order to retrieve damaged or mislaid cable, a system is used to gather cable from the ocean floor. There are several types of grapples, each with certain advantages or disadvantages and these grapples are attached to the vessel via a grapple rope, originally a mix of steel and manila lines, but now made from synthetic materials. This ensures that the line is strong, yet can flex, the line is pulled up by reversing the Liner Cable Engine used to lay the cable. The most common laying engine in use is the Liner Cable Engine, the LCE is used to feed the cable down to the ocean floor, but this device can also be reversed and used to bring back up cable needing repair. These engines can feed 800 feet of cable a minute, Liner Cable Engines are also equipped with a brake system that allows the flow of cable to be controlled or stopped if a problem arises. A common system used is a drum, a mechanical drum fitted with eoduldes that help slow

24.
Gas carrier
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A gas carrier is a ship designed to transport LPG, LNG or liquefied chemical gases in bulk. The seaborne transport of liquefied gases began in 1934 when an international company put two combined oil/LPG tankers into operation. The ships, basically oil tankers, had converted by fitting small, riveted. This enabled transport over long distances of substantial volumes of an oil refinery by-product that had distinct advantages as a domestic and commercial fuel. LPG is not only odourless and non-toxic, it also has a calorific value. Today, most fully pressurised oceangoing LPG carriers are fitted with two or three horizontal, cylindrical or spherical cargo tanks and have capacities between 3,500 and 7,500 m3. However, in recent years a number of larger-capacity fully pressurised ships have been built, most notably a series of 10,800 m3 ships, built in Japan between 2003 and 2013. Fully pressurised ships are still being built in numbers and represent a cost-effective, simple way of moving LPG to and these carriers, incorporating tanks either cylindrical, spherical or bi-lobe in shape, are able to load or discharge gas cargoes at both refrigerated and pressurised storage facilities. Ethylene carriers are the most sophisticated of the gas tankers and have the ability to not only most other liquefied gas cargoes. They are built to carry liquefied gases at low temperature and atmospheric pressure between terminals equipped with fully refrigerated storage tanks, however, discharge through a booster pump and cargo heater makes it possible to discharge to pressurized tanks too. The first purpose-built, fully refrigerated LPG carrier was constructed by a Japanese shipyard, to a United States design, today, fully refrigerated ships range in capacity from 20,000 to 100,000 m3. LPG carriers in the 50, 000–80,000 m3 size range are referred to as VLGCs. Although LNG carriers are often larger in terms of cubic capacity, the main type of cargo containment system utilised on board modern fully refrigerated ships are independent tanks with rigid foam insulation. The insulation used is commonly polyurethane foam. Older ships can have independent tanks with loosely filled perlite insulation, in the past, there have been a few fully refrigerated ships built with semi-membrane or integral tanks and internal insulation tanks, but these systems have only maintained minimal interest. The large majority of ships currently in service have been constructed by shipbuilders in Japan. The majority of LNG carriers are between 125,000 and 135,000 m3 in capacity, in the modern fleet of LNG carriers, there is an interesting exception concerning ship size. This is the introduction of smaller ships of between 18,000 and 19,000 m3 having been built in 1994 and later to service the needs of importers of smaller volumes

25.
Liquefied petroleum gas
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It is increasingly used as an aerosol propellant and a refrigerant, replacing chlorofluorocarbons in an effort to reduce damage to the ozone layer. When specifically used as a fuel it is often referred to as autogas. Varieties of LPG bought and sold include mixes that are mostly propane, mostly butane and, most commonly, in the northern hemisphere winter, the mixes contain more propane, while in summer, they contain more butane. In the United States, mainly two grades of LPG are sold, commercial propane and HD-5 and these specifications are published by the Gas Processors Association and the American Society of Testing and Materials. Propane/butane blends are also listed in these specifications, propylene, butylenes and various other hydrocarbons are usually also present in small concentrations. HD-5 limits the amount of propylene that can be placed in LPG to 5%, a powerful odorant, ethanethiol, is added so that leaks can be detected easily. The internationally recognized European Standard is EN589, in the United States, tetrahydrothiophene or amyl mercaptan are also approved odorants, although neither is currently being utilized. It was first produced in 1910 by Dr. Walter Snelling, and it currently provides about 3% of all energy consumed, and burns relatively cleanly with no soot and very few sulfur emissions. As it is a gas, it does not pose ground or water pollution hazards, LPG has a typical specific calorific value of 46.1 MJ/kg compared with 42.5 MJ/kg for fuel oil and 43.5 MJ/kg for premium grade petrol. However, its energy density per unit of 26 MJ/L is lower than either that of petrol or fuel oil. As its boiling point is below room temperature, LPG will evaporate quickly at temperatures and pressures and is usually supplied in pressurised steel vessels. They are typically filled to 80–85% of their capacity to allow for expansion of the contained liquid. The ratio between the volumes of the gas and the liquefied gas varies depending on composition, pressure, and temperature. LPG is heavier than air, unlike natural gas, and thus will flow along floors and tend to settle in low spots, there are two main dangers from this. The first is an explosion if the mixture of LPG and air is within the explosive limits. The second is due to LPG displacing air, causing a decrease in oxygen concentration. It can serve as fuel for cooking, central heating and to water heating and is a particularly cost-effective, LPG is used for cooking in many countries for economic reasons, for convenience or because it is the preferred fuel source. According to the 2011 census of India,33.6 million Indian households used LPG as cooking fuel in 2011, LPG is subsidised by the government in India

26.
Liquefied natural gas
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Liquefied natural gas is natural gas that has been converted to liquid form for ease of storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume of gas in the gaseous state. It is odorless, colorless, toxic and non-corrosive, hazards include flammability after vaporization into a gaseous state, freezing and asphyxia. The liquefaction process involves removal of certain components, such as dust, acid gases, helium, water, and heavy hydrocarbons, which could cause difficulty downstream. The natural gas is condensed into a liquid at close to atmospheric pressure by cooling it to approximately −162 °C. LNG achieves a reduction in volume than compressed natural gas so that the energy density of LNG is 2.4 times greater than that of CNG or 60 percent that of diesel fuel. This makes LNG cost efficient to transport long distances where pipelines do not exist. Specially designed cryogenic sea vessels or cryogenic road tankers are used for its transport, LNG is principally used for transporting natural gas to markets, where it is regasified and distributed as pipeline natural gas. It can be used in natural gas vehicles, although it is common to design vehicles to use compressed natural gas. Its relatively high cost of production and the need to store it in expensive cryogenic tanks have hindered widespread commercial use, despite these drawbacks, on energy basis LNG production is expected to hit 10% of the global crude production by 2020. The heating value depends on the source of gas that is used, the range of heating value can span +/-10 to 15 percent. A typical value of the heating value of LNG is approximately 50 MJ/kg or 21,500 BTU/lb. A typical value of the heating value of LNG is 45 MJ/kg or 19,350 BTU/lb. For the purpose of comparison of different fuels the heating value may be expressed in terms of energy per volume which is known as the energy density expressed in MJ/liter. The density of LNG is roughly 0.41 kg/liter to 0.5 kg/liter, depending on temperature, pressure, using the median value of 0.45 kg/liter, the typical energy density values are 22.5 MJ/liter or 20.3 MJ/liter. The energy density of LNG is approximately 2.4 times greater than that of CNG which makes it economical to transport natural gas by ship in the form of LNG. The energy density of LNG is comparable to propane and ethanol but is only 60 percent that of diesel and 70 percent that of gasoline, experiments on the properties of gases started early in the seventeenth century. By the middle of the seventeenth century Robert Boyle had derived the relationship between the pressure and the volume of gases

27.
Ship prefix
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A ship prefix is a combination of letters, usually abbreviations, used in front of the name of a civilian or naval ship. Prefixes for civilian vessels may either identify the type of propulsion, such as PS for paddle steamer, or purpose, civilian prefixes are often used inconsistently, and frequently not at all. Sometimes a slash is used to separate the letters, as in M/S, Naval prefixes came into use as abbreviations for longer titles, such as His/Her Majestys Ship in the British Royal Navy, abbreviated H. M. S. and then HMS. Earlier uses often included the type of vessel, as for instance U. S. F, today the common practice is to use a single prefix for all warships of a nations navy, and other prefixes for auxiliaries and ships of allied services, such as coast guards. The use of ship prefixes is not universal, in neither the German Kriegsmarine nor the Imperial Japanese Navy used ship prefixes. Some English-language writers use prefixes like DKM and HIJMS or IJN for consistency with HMS, other writers follow the practice of the navy and omit any prefix. From the 20th century onwards, most navies identify ships by hull numbers —identification codes typically painted on the side of the ship. Each navy has its own system, the United States Navy uses hull classification symbols, and the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and these tables list both current and historical prefixes known to have been used. These prefixes are used for merchant vessels of any nationality. The designations for United Kingdom ships applied at the time of the British Empire, before the establishment of separate navies for the Dominions. In the Royal Netherlands Navy, HNLMS is the prefix in English, Hr. Ms. should preferably not be used in English-language documents, nevertheless it is often seen on the World Wide Web. Until the moment a Dutch naval ship officially enters active service in the fleet, since King Willem-Alexander succeeded Queen Beatrix on 30 April 2013, Hr. Ms. is replaced by Zr. Ms. In Australia, the prefix NUSHIP is used to ships that have yet to be commissioned into the fleet. In the United States, all other than USS, USNS, USNV. USRC was replaced by USCGC when the Revenue Cutter Service merged with the United States Lifesaving Service to become the United States Coast Guard in 1915. USLHT also was replaced by USCGC when the United States Lighthouse Service became a part of the U. S. Coast Guard in 1939. USC&GS was replaced by NOAAS when the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey merged with other U. S. Government scientific agencies to form the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 1970. A United States Navy ship that is not in active commission does not hold the title of United States Ship with simply the name without prefix used before and after commissioned service

28.
Cargo ship
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A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the worlds seas and oceans each year, cargo ships are usually specially designed for the task, often being equipped with cranes and other mechanisms to load and unload, and come in all sizes. Today, they are almost always built by welded steel, cargo ships/freighters can be divided into five groups, according to the type of cargo they carry. Tankers carry petroleum products or other liquid cargo, dry bulk carriers carry coal, grain, ore and other similar products in loose form. Multi-purpose vessels, as the name suggests, carry different classes of cargo – e. g. liquid, a Reefer ship is specifically designed and used for shipping perishable commodities which require temperature-controlled, mostly fruits, meat, fish, vegetables, dairy products and other foodstuffs. Specialized types of cargo vessels include ships and bulk carriers. Cargo ships fall into two categories that reflect the services they offer to industry, liner and tramp services. Those on a published schedule and fixed tariff rates are cargo liners. Tramp ships do not have fixed schedules, users charter them to haul loads. Generally, the shipping companies and private individuals operate tramp ships. Cargo liners run on fixed schedules published by the shipping companies, each trip a liner takes is called a voyage. However, some cargo liners may carry passengers also, a cargo liner that carries 12 or more passengers is called a combination or passenger-cum-cargo line. The desire to trade routes over longer distances, and throughout more seasons of the year. Before the middle of the 19th century, the incidence of piracy resulted in most cargo ships being armed, sometimes heavily, as in the case of the Manila galleons. They were also escorted by warships. Piracy is still common in some waters, particularly in the Malacca Straits. In 2004, the governments of three nations agreed to provide better protection for the ships passing through the Straits. The waters off Somalia and Nigeria are also prone to piracy, while smaller vessels are also in danger along parts of the South American, Southeast Asian coasts, the words cargo and freight have become interchangeable in casual usage

29.
International trade
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International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories. It is the exchange of goods and services among nations of the world, in most countries, such trade represents a significant share of gross domestic product. While international trade has existed throughout history, its economic, social, trading globally gives consumers and countries the opportunity to be exposed to new markets and products. Almost every kind of product can be found on the market, food, clothes, spare parts, oil, jewellery, wine, stocks, currencies. Services are also traded, tourism, banking, consulting and transportation, a product that is sold to the global market is an export, and a product that is bought from the global market is an import. Imports and exports are accounted for in a current account in the balance of payments. Industrialization, advanced technology, including transportation, globalization, multinational corporations, increasing international trade is crucial to the continuance of globalization. Without international trade, nations would be limited to the goods, the main difference is that international trade is typically more costly than domestic trade. Another difference between domestic and international trade is that factors of such as capital and labor are typically more mobile within a country than across countries. Thus international trade is restricted to trade in goods and services. Trade in goods and services can serve as a substitute for trade in factors of production, instead of importing a factor of production, a country can import goods that make intensive use of that factor of production and thus embody it. An example is the import of goods by the United States from China. Instead of importing Chinese labor, the United States imports goods that were produced with Chinese labor, International trade is also a branch of economics, which, together with international finance, forms the larger branch called international economics. The history of international trade chronicles notable events that have affected the trade between various economies, there are several models which seek to explain the factors behind international trade, the welfare consequences of trade and the pattern of trade. </ref></ref>==Largest countries by total international trade== Source, International Trade Centre President George W. Bush observed World Trade Week on May 18,2001, mcKenzie, Lionel W. Specialization and Efficiency in World Production. A Ricardo-Sraffa Paradigm Comparing the Gains from Trade in Inputs and Finished Goods, the definitions and methodological concepts applied for the various statistical collections on international trade often differ in terms of definition and coverage. Metadata providing information on definitions and methods are published along with the data. Ptas. mcgill. ca Historical documents on international trade available on FRASER

30.
Crane (machine)
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A crane is a type of machine, generally equipped with a hoist rope, wire ropes or chains, and sheaves, that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to move them horizontally. It is mainly used for lifting heavy things and transporting them to other places, the device uses one or more simple machines to create mechanical advantage and thus move loads beyond the normal capability of a human. The first known construction cranes were invented by the Ancient Greeks and were powered by men or beasts of burden and these cranes were used for the construction of tall buildings. Larger cranes were later developed, employing the use of human treadwheels, in the High Middle Ages, harbour cranes were introduced to load and unload ships and assist with their construction – some were built into stone towers for extra strength and stability. The earliest cranes were constructed from wood, but cast iron, iron, for many centuries, power was supplied by the physical exertion of men or animals, although hoists in watermills and windmills could be driven by the harnessed natural power. The first mechanical power was provided by steam engines, the earliest steam crane being introduced in the 18th or 19th century, Cranes exist in an enormous variety of forms – each tailored to a specific use. Sizes range from the smallest jib cranes, used inside workshops, to the tallest tower cranes, mini-cranes are also used for constructing high buildings, in order to facilitate constructions by reaching tight spaces. Finally, we can find larger floating cranes, generally used to oil rigs. Some lifting machines do not strictly fit the definition of a crane. The crane for lifting heavy loads was invented by the Ancient Greeks in the late 6th century BC, the archaeological record shows that no later than c.515 BC distinctive cuttings for both lifting tongs and lewis irons begin to appear on stone blocks of Greek temples. The introduction of the winch and pulley hoist soon lead to a replacement of ramps as the main means of vertical motion. Also, the practice of erecting large monolithic columns was abandoned in favour of using several column drums. The first unequivocal evidence for the existence of the compound pulley system appears in the Mechanical Problems attributed to Aristotle. The heyday of the crane in ancient times came during the Roman Empire, the Romans adopted the Greek crane and developed it further. We are relatively well informed about their techniques, thanks to rather lengthy accounts by the engineers Vitruvius. There are also two surviving reliefs of Roman treadwheel cranes, with the Haterii tombstone from the late first century AD being particularly detailed, the simplest Roman crane, the trispastos, consisted of a single-beam jib, a winch, a rope, and a block containing three pulleys. Heavier crane types featured five pulleys or, in case of the largest one, the polyspastos, when worked by four men at both sides of the winch, could readily lift 3,000 kg. At the temple of Jupiter at Baalbek, for instance, the blocks weigh up to 60 tons each

31.
Dry cargo ships
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A bulk carrier, bulk freighter, or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo, such as grains, coal, ore, and cement in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, economic forces have fuelled the development of ships, causing them to grow in size. Todays bulkers are specially designed to maximize capacity, safety, efficiency, today, bulkers make up 15% - 17% of the worlds merchant fleets and range in size from single-hold mini-bulkers to mammoth ore ships able to carry 400,000 metric tons of deadweight. A number of specialized designs exist, some can unload their own cargo, some depend on port facilities for unloading, over half of all bulkers have Greek, Japanese, or Chinese owners and more than a quarter are registered in Panama. South Korea is the largest single builder of bulkers, and 82% of these ships were built in Asia, a bulk carriers crew participates in the loading and unloading of cargo, navigating the ship, and keeping its machinery and equipment properly maintained. Loading and unloading the cargo is difficult, dangerous, and can take up to 120 hours on larger ships, crews can range in size from three people on the smallest ships to over 30 on the largest. Bulk cargo can be dense, corrosive, or abrasive. This can present safety problems, cargo shifting, spontaneous combustion, the use of ships that are old and have corrosion problems has been linked to a spate of bulker sinkings in the 1990s, as have the bulkers large hatchways, important for efficient cargo handling. New international regulations have since been introduced to improve design and inspection. There are various ways to define the term bulk carrier, however, most classification societies use a broader definition where a bulker is any ship that carries dry unpackaged goods. Multipurpose cargo ships can carry cargo, but can also carry other cargoes and are not specifically designed for bulk carriage. The term dry bulk carrier is used to distinguish bulkers from bulk liquid carriers such as oil, chemical, very small bulkers are almost indistinguishable from general cargo ships, and they are often classified based more on the ships use than its design. A number of abbreviations are used to describe bulkers, OBO describes a bulker which carries a combination of ore, bulk, and oil, and O/O is used for combination oil and ore carriers. The terms VLOC, VLBC, ULOC, and ULBC for very large and ultra large ore and bulk carriers were adapted from the supertanker designations very large crude carrier, before specialized bulk carriers existed, shippers had two methods to move bulk goods by ship. In the first method, longshoremen loaded the cargo into sacks, stacked the sacks onto pallets, the second method required the shipper to charter an entire ship and spend time and money to build plywood bins into the holds. Then, to guide the cargo through the hatches, wooden feeders. These methods were slow and labor-intensive, as with the container ship, the problem of efficient loading and unloading has driven the evolution of the bulk carrier. Specialized bulk carriers began to appear as steam-powered ships became more popular, the first steam ship recognized as a bulk carrier was the British coal carrier SS John Bowes in 1852

32.
Bulk carrier
–
A bulk carrier, bulk freighter, or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo, such as grains, coal, ore, and cement in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, economic forces have fuelled the development of ships, causing them to grow in size. Todays bulkers are specially designed to maximize capacity, safety, efficiency, today, bulkers make up 15% - 17% of the worlds merchant fleets and range in size from single-hold mini-bulkers to mammoth ore ships able to carry 400,000 metric tons of deadweight. A number of specialized designs exist, some can unload their own cargo, some depend on port facilities for unloading, over half of all bulkers have Greek, Japanese, or Chinese owners and more than a quarter are registered in Panama. South Korea is the largest single builder of bulkers, and 82% of these ships were built in Asia, a bulk carriers crew participates in the loading and unloading of cargo, navigating the ship, and keeping its machinery and equipment properly maintained. Loading and unloading the cargo is difficult, dangerous, and can take up to 120 hours on larger ships, crews can range in size from three people on the smallest ships to over 30 on the largest. Bulk cargo can be dense, corrosive, or abrasive. This can present safety problems, cargo shifting, spontaneous combustion, the use of ships that are old and have corrosion problems has been linked to a spate of bulker sinkings in the 1990s, as have the bulkers large hatchways, important for efficient cargo handling. New international regulations have since been introduced to improve design and inspection. There are various ways to define the term bulk carrier, however, most classification societies use a broader definition where a bulker is any ship that carries dry unpackaged goods. Multipurpose cargo ships can carry cargo, but can also carry other cargoes and are not specifically designed for bulk carriage. The term dry bulk carrier is used to distinguish bulkers from bulk liquid carriers such as oil, chemical, very small bulkers are almost indistinguishable from general cargo ships, and they are often classified based more on the ships use than its design. A number of abbreviations are used to describe bulkers, OBO describes a bulker which carries a combination of ore, bulk, and oil, and O/O is used for combination oil and ore carriers. The terms VLOC, VLBC, ULOC, and ULBC for very large and ultra large ore and bulk carriers were adapted from the supertanker designations very large crude carrier, before specialized bulk carriers existed, shippers had two methods to move bulk goods by ship. In the first method, longshoremen loaded the cargo into sacks, stacked the sacks onto pallets, the second method required the shipper to charter an entire ship and spend time and money to build plywood bins into the holds. Then, to guide the cargo through the hatches, wooden feeders. These methods were slow and labor-intensive, as with the container ship, the problem of efficient loading and unloading has driven the evolution of the bulk carrier. Specialized bulk carriers began to appear as steam-powered ships became more popular, the first steam ship recognized as a bulk carrier was the British coal carrier SS John Bowes in 1852

33.
Coal
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Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure. Coal is composed primarily of carbon, along with quantities of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen. A fossil fuel, coal forms when plant matter is converted into peat, which in turn is converted into lignite, then sub-bituminous coal, after that bituminous coal. This involves biological and geological processes that take place over time, throughout history, coal has been used as an energy resource, primarily burned for the production of electricity and heat, and is also used for industrial purposes, such as refining metals. Coal is the largest source of energy for the generation of electricity worldwide, the extraction of coal, its use in energy production and its byproducts are all associated with environmental and health effects including climate change. Coal is extracted from the ground by coal mining, since 1983, the worlds top coal producer has been China. In 2015 China produced 3,747 million tonnes of coal –47. 7% of 7,861 million tonnes world coal production, in 2015 other large producers were United States, India, European Union and Australia. The word originally took the col in Old English, from Proto-Germanic *kula. In Old Turkic languages, kül is ash, cinders, öčür is quench, the compound charcoal in Turkic is öčür kül, literally quenched ashes, cinders, coals with elided anlaut ö- and inflection affixes -ülmüş. At various times in the geologic past, the Earth had dense forests in low-lying wetland areas, due to natural processes such as flooding, these forests were buried underneath soil. As more and more soil deposited over them, they were compressed, the temperature also rose as they sank deeper and deeper. As the process continued the plant matter was protected from biodegradation and oxidation and this trapped the carbon in immense peat bogs that were eventually covered and deeply buried by sediments. Under high pressure and high temperature, dead vegetation was slowly converted to coal, as coal contains mainly carbon, the conversion of dead vegetation into coal is called carbonization. The wide, shallow seas of the Carboniferous Period provided ideal conditions for coal formation, the exception is the coal gap in the Permian–Triassic extinction event, where coal is rare. Coal is known from Precambrian strata, which predate land plants — this coal is presumed to have originated from residues of algae, in its dehydrated form, peat is a highly effective absorbent for fuel and oil spills on land and water. It is also used as a conditioner for soil to make it able to retain. Lignite, or brown coal, is the lowest rank of coal, jet, a compact form of lignite, is sometimes polished and has been used as an ornamental stone since the Upper Palaeolithic

34.
Rubber
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Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds, plus water. Malaysia and Indonesia are two of the leading rubber producers, forms of polyisoprene that are used as natural rubbers are classified as elastomers. Currently, rubber is harvested mainly in the form of the latex from the tree or others. The latex is a sticky, milky colloid drawn off by making incisions in the bark, the latex then is refined into rubber ready for commercial processing. In major areas, latex is allowed to coagulate in the collection cup, the coagulated lumps are collected and processed into dry forms for marketing. Natural rubber is used extensively in many applications and products, either alone or in combination with other materials, in most of its useful forms, it has a large stretch ratio and high resilience, and is extremely waterproof. The major commercial source of rubber latex is the Pará rubber tree. This species is preferred because it grows well under cultivation, a properly managed tree responds to wounding by producing more latex for several years. Congo rubber, formerly a source of rubber, came from vines in the genus Landolphia. These cannot be cultivated, and the drive to collect latex from wild plants was responsible for many of the atrocities committed under the Congo Free State. The latex exhibits the quality as the natural rubber from rubber trees. In the wild types of dandelion, latex content is low, in Nazi Germany, research projects tried to use dandelions as a base for rubber production, but failed. In collaboration with Continental Tires, IME began a pilot facility, many other plants produce forms of latex rich in isoprene polymers, though not all produce usable forms of polymer as easily as the Pará. Some of them require more processing to produce anything like usable rubber. Some produce other desirable materials, for example gutta-percha and chicle from Manilkara species, the term gum rubber is sometimes applied to the tree-obtained version of natural rubber in order to distinguish it from the synthetic version. The first use of rubber was by the cultures of Mesoamerica. The earliest archeological evidence of the use of latex from the Hevea tree comes the Olmec culture. The Pará rubber tree is indigenous to South America, charles Marie de La Condamine is credited with introducing samples of rubber to the Académie Royale des Sciences of France in 1736

35.
Copra
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Copra is the dried meat, or dried kernel, of the coconut used to extract coconut oil. The earliest evidence of the extracting and use of oil from copra is in early Tamil literature from the 1st century AD. The word originated from the Malayalam word koppra, Coconut oil is extracted from it and this has made copra an important agricultural commodity for many coconut-producing countries. It also yields coconut cake, which is used as feed for livestock. Copra has traditionally been grated and ground then boiled in water to extract coconut oil and it was used by Pacific island cultures and became a valuable commercial product for merchants in the South Seas and South Asia in the 1860s. This 19th-century copra trading inspired Robert Louis Stevensons 1893 novella The Beach of Falesá, nowadays, the process of coconut oil extraction is performed by crushing copra to produce coconut oil, the by-product is known as copra cake or copra meal. Once the oil is extracted, the remaining cake is 18–25% protein. Instead it is fed to ruminants. The production of copra – removing the shell, breaking it up, Copra can be made by smoke drying, sun drying, or kiln drying. Sun drying requires little more than racks and sufficient sunlight, halved nuts are drained of water, and left with the meat facing the sky, they can be washed to remove mold-creating contaminants. After two days the meat can be removed from the shell with ease, and the process is complete after three to five more days. This process can also be reversed, partially drying the copra in the kiln, in India, small but whole coconuts can be dried over the course of eight months to a year, and the meat inside removed and sold as a whole ball. Meat prepared in this fashion is sweet, soft, oily and is cream-coloured instead of being white, Coconut meat can be dried using direct heat and smoke from a fire, using simple racks to suspend the coconut over the fire. The smoke residue can help preserve the meat but the process overall suffers from unpredictable results. While there are large plantations with integrated operations, copra remains primarily a smallholder crop. The major producing country is the Philippines and it is also a major exporter. Copra production begins on coconut plantations, Coconut trees are generally spaced 9 m apart, allowing a density of 100–160 coconut trees per hectare. A standard tree bears around 50–80 nuts a year, and average earnings in Vanuatu were US$0.20 per kg —so a farmer could earn approximately US$120 to US$320 yearly for each planted hectare

36.
Tin
–
Tin is a chemical element with symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a metal in group 14 of the periodic table. It is obtained chiefly from the mineral cassiterite, which contains tin dioxide, Tin shows a chemical similarity to both of its neighbors in group 14, germanium and lead, and has two main oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4. Tin is the 49th most abundant element and has, with 10 stable isotopes, metallic tin is not easily oxidized in air. The first alloy used on a scale was bronze, made of tin and copper. After 600 BC, pure metallic tin was produced, pewter, which is an alloy of 85–90% tin with the remainder commonly consisting of copper, antimony, and lead, was used for flatware from the Bronze Age until the 20th century. In modern times, tin is used in alloys, most notably tin/lead soft solders. Another large application for tin is corrosion-resistant tin plating of steel, inorganic tin compounds are rather non-toxic. Because of its low toxicity, tin-plated metal was used for packaging as tin cans. However, overexposure to tin may cause problems with metabolizing essential trace elements such as copper and zinc, Tin is a soft, malleable, ductile and highly crystalline silvery-white metal. When a bar of tin is bent, a sound known as the tin cry can be heard from the twinning of the crystals. Tin melts at the low temperature of about 232 °C, the lowest in group 14, the melting point is further lowered to 177.3 °C for 11 nm particles. β-tin, which is stable at and above room temperature, is malleable, in contrast, α-tin, which is stable below 13.2 °C, is brittle. α-tin has a cubic crystal structure, similar to diamond. α-tin has no properties at all because its atoms form a covalent structure in which electrons cannot move freely. It is a dull-gray powdery material with no common uses other than a few specialized semiconductor applications and these two allotropes, α-tin and β-tin, are more commonly known as gray tin and white tin, respectively. Two more allotropes, γ and σ, exist at temperatures above 161 °C, in cold conditions, β-tin tends to transform spontaneously into α-tin, a phenomenon known as tin pest. Commercial grades of tin resist transformation because of the effect of the small amounts of bismuth, antimony, lead

37.
Wheat
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Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region but now cultivated worldwide. In 2016, world production of wheat was 749 million tonnes, making it the second most-produced cereal after maize, since 1960, world production of wheat and other grain crops has tripled and is expected to grow further through the middle of the 21st Century. This grain is grown on land area than any other commercial food. World trade in wheat is greater than for all other crops combined, globally, wheat is the leading source of vegetal protein in human food, having a protein content of about 13%, which is relatively high compared to other major cereals and staple foods. The archaeological record suggests that wheat was first cultivated in the regions of the Fertile Crescent around 9600 BCE. In a small part of the population, gluten – the major part of wheat protein – can trigger coeliac disease, non-coeliac gluten sensitivity, gluten ataxia. Cultivation and repeated harvesting and sowing of the grains of wild grasses led to the creation of domestic strains, in domesticated wheat, grains are larger, and the seeds remain attached to the ear by a toughened rachis during harvesting. In wild strains, a more fragile rachis allows the ear to easily shatter, as the traits that improve wheat as a food source also involve the loss of the plants natural seed dispersal mechanisms, highly domesticated strains of wheat cannot survive in the wild. Cultivation of wheat began to spread beyond the Fertile Crescent after about 8000 BCE, jared Diamond traces the spread of cultivated emmer wheat starting in the Fertile Crescent sometime before 8800 BCE. Archaeological analysis of wild emmer indicates that it was first cultivated in the southern Levant with finds dating back as far as 9600 BCE, Genetic analysis of wild einkorn wheat suggests that it was first grown in the Karacadag Mountains in southeastern Turkey. Dated archeological remains of wheat in settlement sites near this region, including those at Abu Hureyra in Syria. With the anomalous exception of two grains from Iraq ed-Dubb, the earliest carbon-14 date for einkorn wheat remains at Abu Hureyra is 7800 to 7500 years BCE. Remains of harvested emmer from several sites near the Karacadag Range have been dated to between 8600 and 8400 BCE, that is, in the Neolithic period and these remains were dated by Willem van Zeist and his assistant Johanna Bakker-Heeres to 8800 BCE. They also concluded that the settlers of Tell Aswad did not develop this form of emmer themselves, the cultivation of emmer reached Greece, Cyprus and India by 6500 BCE, Egypt shortly after 6000 BCE, and Germany and Spain by 5000 BCE. The early Egyptians were developers of bread and the use of the oven, by 3000 BCE, wheat had reached the British Isles and Scandinavia. A millennium later it reached China, the oldest evidence for hexaploid wheat has been confirmed through DNA analysis of wheat seeds, dating to around 6400-6200 BCE, recovered from Çatalhöyük. The first identifiable bread wheat with sufficient gluten for yeasted breads has been identified using DNA analysis in samples from a dating to approximately 1350 BCE at Assiros in Macedonia. From Asia, wheat continued to spread throughout Europe, in the British Isles, wheat straw was used for roofing in the Bronze Age, and was in common use until the late 19th century

38.
Ocean
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An ocean is a body of saline water that composes much of a planets hydrosphere. On Earth, an ocean is one of the major divisions of the World Ocean. These are, in descending order by area, the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern, the word sea is often used interchangeably with ocean in American English but, strictly speaking, a sea is a body of saline water partly or fully enclosed by land. The ocean contains 97% of Earths water, and oceanographers have stated that less than 5% of the World Ocean has been explored, the total volume is approximately 1.35 billion cubic kilometers with an average depth of nearly 3,700 meters. As the world ocean is the component of Earths hydrosphere, it is integral to all known life, forms part of the carbon cycle. The world ocean is the habitat of 230,000 known species, but because much of it is unexplored, the origin of Earths oceans remains unknown, oceans are thought to have formed in the Hadean period and may have been the impetus for the emergence of life. Extraterrestrial oceans may be composed of water or other elements and compounds, the only confirmed large stable bodies of extraterrestrial surface liquids are the lakes of Titan, although there is evidence for the existence of oceans elsewhere in the Solar System. Early in their histories, Mars and Venus are theorized to have had large water oceans. The Mars ocean hypothesis suggests that nearly a third of the surface of Mars was once covered by water, compounds such as salts and ammonia dissolved in water lower its freezing point so that water might exist in large quantities in extraterrestrial environments as brine or convecting ice. Unconfirmed oceans are speculated beneath the surface of many planets and natural satellites, notably. The Solar Systems giant planets are thought to have liquid atmospheric layers of yet to be confirmed compositions. Oceans may also exist on exoplanets and exomoons, including surface oceans of water within a circumstellar habitable zone. Ocean planets are a type of planet with a surface completely covered with liquid. The concept of Ōkeanós has an Indo-European connection, Greek Ōkeanós has been compared to the Vedic epithet ā-śáyāna-, predicated of the dragon Vṛtra-, who captured the cows/rivers. Related to this notion, the Okeanos is represented with a dragon-tail on some early Greek vases, though generally described as several separate oceans, these waters comprise one global, interconnected body of salt water sometimes referred to as the World Ocean or global ocean. This concept of a body of water with relatively free interchange among its parts is of fundamental importance to oceanography. The major oceanic divisions – listed below in descending order of area and volume – are defined in part by the continents, various archipelagos, Oceans are fringed by smaller, adjoining bodies of water such as seas, gulfs, bays, bights, and straits. The Mid-Oceanic Ridge of the World are connected and form the Ocean Ridge, the continuous mountain range is 65,000 km long, and the total length of the oceanic ridge system is 80,000 km long

39.
Bulk cargo
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Bulk cargo is commodity cargo that is transported unpackaged in large quantities. It refers to material in liquid or granular, particulate form, as a mass of relatively small solids, such as petroleum/crude oil, grain, coal. This cargo is usually dropped or poured, with a spout or shovel bucket, into a bulk carrier ships hold, railroad car/railway wagon, smaller quantities can be boxed and palletised. Bulk cargo is classified as liquid or dry, the Baltic Exchange is based in London and provides a range of indices benchmarking the cost of moving bulk commodities, dry and wet, along popular routes around the seas. Some of these indices are used to settle Freight Futures. The most famous of the Baltic indices is the Baltic Dry Indices and this is a derived function of the Baltic Capesize index, Baltic Panamax index, Baltic Supramax index and the Baltic Handysize index. The BDI has been used as a bellwether for the economy as it can be interpreted as an indicator of an increase or decrease in the amount of raw commodities countries are importing/exporting. Bauxite Bulk minerals Cements Chemicals Coals and cokes Agricultural products such as dry edibles Grains Iron, Bulk Cargoes, A Guide to Good Practice. UK, The North of England P&I Association, stability and Trim for the Ships Officer. Keever, John M. American Merchant Seamans Manual, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. New York and Geneva, United Nations, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. New York and Geneva, United Nations

40.
Iron ore
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Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow. The iron itself is found in the form of magnetite, hematite, goethite, limonite or siderite. Ores containing very high quantities of hematite or magnetite are known as ore or direct shipping ore. Iron ore is the raw material used to make pig iron, indeed, it has been argued that iron ore is more integral to the global economy than any other commodity, except perhaps oil. Metallic iron is virtually unknown on the surface of the Earth except as iron-nickel alloys from meteorites, although iron is the fourth most abundant element in the Earths crust, comprising about 5%, the vast majority is bound in silicate or more rarely carbonate minerals. Prior to the revolution, most iron was obtained from widely available goethite or bog ore, for example during the American Revolution. Prehistoric societies used laterite as a source of iron ore, historically, much of the iron ore utilized by industrialized societies has been mined from predominantly hematite deposits with grades of around 70% Fe. These deposits are referred to as direct shipping ores or natural ores. Iron-ore mining methods vary by the type of ore being mined, there are four main types of iron-ore deposits worked currently, depending on the mineralogy and geology of the ore deposits. These are magnetite, titanomagnetite, massive hematite and pisolitic ironstone deposits, banded iron formations are sedimentary rocks containing more than 15% iron composed predominantly of thinly bedded iron minerals and silica. Banded iron formations occur exclusively in Precambrian rocks, and are weakly to intensely metamorphosed. Banded iron formations may contain iron in carbonates or silicates, banded iron formations are known as taconite within North America. The mining involves moving tremendous amounts of ore and waste, the waste comes in two forms, non-ore bedrock in the mine, and unwanted minerals which are an intrinsic part of the ore rock itself. The mullock is mined and piled in dumps, and the gangue is separated during the beneficiation process and is removed as tailings. Taconite tailings are mostly the mineral quartz, which is chemically inert and this material is stored in large, regulated water settling ponds. The typical magnetite iron-ore concentrate has less than 0. 1% phosphorus, 3–7% silica, currently magnetite iron ore is mined in Minnesota and Michigan in the U. S. Direct-shipping iron-ore deposits are exploited on all continents except Antarctica, with the largest intensity in South America

41.
Lake freighter
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Lake freighters, or lakers, are bulk carrier vessels that ply the Great Lakes of North America. These vessels are called boats, although classified as ships. Lakers carry bulk cargoes of materials such as limestone, iron ore, grain, coal or salt from the mines, the 63 commercial ports handled 173 million tons of cargo in 2006. Because of winter ice on the lakes, the season is not usually year-round. The Soo Locks and Welland Canal close from mid-January to late March, depending on their application, lakers may also be referred to by their type, such as oreboats, straight deckers, bulkers, sternenders, self unloaders, longboats, or lakeboats, among others. In the mid-20th century,300 lakers worked the Lakes, one of the best known was SS Edmund Fitzgerald, which sank in 1975, the most recent and largest major vessel to be wrecked on the Lakes. By way of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, smaller lakers have access to the ocean, visiting ocean-going vessels are called salties. Many modern ocean going vessels are too large for the relatively small locks on the Saint Lawrence Seaway, because one of the Soo Locks is larger than any Seaway lock, salties that can pass through the Seaway may travel anywhere in the Great Lakes. Similarly, the largest lakers are confined to the Upper Lakes because they are too large to use the Seaway locks, beginning at the Welland Canal that bypasses the Niagara River. Because of their draft, and the lower buoyancy of fresh water, salties may accept partial loads on the Great Lakes. Lakers are generally bulk carriers, that is, they carry cargoes of rock, ore, salt or grain in large contiguous holds, not packed in containers. The earlier ships required rail cars unloading on ore docks and unloading machinery at the receiving docks, the most common cargoes on the Great Lakes are taconite, limestone, grain, salt, coal, cement, gypsum, sand, slag and potash. Much of the supplies the steel mills of the auto industry. Other destinations include coal-fired power plants, highway department salt domes and stone docks, uS-flagged freighters carried the largest portion of the trade, accounting for two-thirds of all cargo by weight. US boats carried most of the iron, limestone and cement while Canadian boats carried most of the potash and almost all of the salt, destination harbors, ship sizes and legal restrictions greatly affect the pattern of haulage. US ships hauled almost all of the ore on the lakes - from US mines to US mills on large US ships. This reflects the requirement of the Jones Act, as well as the industry using large volumes of material while being concentrated in a few large harbor locations, the largest vessels on the lake are the 1000-footers. These vessels are between 1,000 and 1,013.5 feet long,105 feet wide and they can carry as much as 78,850 long tons of bulk cargo although their loading is dependent on lake water levels especially in the channels and ports

42.
Great Lakes
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Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth, containing 21% of the worlds surface fresh water by volume. The total surface is 94,250 square miles, and the volume is 5,439 cubic miles. Due to their sea-like characteristics the five Great Lakes have also long been referred to as inland seas, Lake Superior is the second largest lake in the world by area, and Lake Michigan is the largest lake that is entirely within one country. The southern half of the Great Lakes is bordered by the Great Lakes Megalopolis, the lakes have been a major highway for transportation, migration and trade, and they are home to a large number of aquatic species. Many invasive species have been introduced due to trade, and some threaten the regions biodiversity, though the five lakes reside in separate basins, they form a single, naturally interconnected body of fresh water, within the Great Lakes Basin. The lakes form a chain connecting the interior of North America to the Atlantic Ocean. From the interior to the outlet at the Saint Lawrence River, water flows from Superior to Huron and Michigan, southward to Erie, the lakes drain a large watershed via many rivers, and are studded with approximately 35,000 islands. There are also several smaller lakes, often called inland lakes. The surface area of the five primary lakes combined is roughly equal to the size of the United Kingdom, while the area of the entire basin is about the size of the UK. Lake Michigan is the one of the Great Lakes that is located entirely within the United States. The lakes are divided among the jurisdictions of the Canadian province of Ontario and the U. S. states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. Both Ontario and Michigan include in their boundaries portions of four of the lakes, Ontario does not border Lake Michigan, New York and Wisconsins jurisdictions extend into two lakes, and the remaining states into one of the lakes. This designation, however, is not universal and those living on the shore of Lake Superior often refer to all the other lakes as the lower lakes, because they are farther south. This corresponds to thinking of Lakes Erie and Ontario as down south, vessels sailing north on Lake Michigan are considered upbound even though they are sailing toward its effluent current. The Chicago River and Calumet River systems connect the Great Lakes Basin to the Mississippi River System through man-made alterations, the St. Marys River, including the Soo Locks, connects Lake Superior to Lake Huron. The Straits of Mackinac connect Lake Michigan to Lake Huron, the St. Clair River connects Lake Huron to Lake St. Clair. The Detroit River connects Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie, the Niagara River, including Niagara Falls, connects Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. The Welland Canal, bypassing the Falls, connects Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, the Saint Lawrence River connects Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which connects to the Atlantic Ocean

43.
St. Lawrence Seaway
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The Seaway is named for the Saint Lawrence River, which flows from Lake Ontario to the Atlantic Ocean. Legally, the Seaway extends from Montreal, Quebec, to Lake Erie, Lawrence River to bypass several rapids and dams along the way. The section of the downstream of Montreal, which is fully within Canadian jurisdiction, is regulated by the offices of Transport Canada in the Port of Quebec. The Saint Lawrence Seaway was preceded by a number of other canals, in 1871, locks on the Saint Lawrence allowed transit of vessels 186 ft long,44 ft 6 in wide, and 9 ft deep. The First Welland Canal, constructed from 1824–1829, had a minimum size of 110 ft long,22 ft wide, and 8 ft deep. The Welland Canals minimum lock size was increased to 150 ft long,26, the first proposals for a bi-national comprehensive deep waterway along the St. Lawrence were made in the 1890s. United States proposals for development up to and including the First World War met with little interest from the Canadian federal government, but the two national governments submitted St. Lawrence plans to a group for study. By the early 1920s, both The Wooten-Bowden Report and the International Joint Commission recommended the project and this treaty was submitted to the United States Senate in November 1932 and hearings continued until a vote was taken on March 14,1934. The majority voted in favor of the treaty, but it failed to gain the necessary two-thirds vote for ratification, subsequent attempts between the governments in the 1930s to forge an agreement came to naught due to opposition by the Ontario government of Mitchell Hepburn, and that of Quebec. President Franklin D. Roosevelt to get his support of the Seaway concept, Beukema and St. Lawrence Seaway proponents were convinced that such a nautical link would lead to development of the communities and economies of the Great Lakes region by enabling ocean-going ships. In this period, grain exports to Europe were highly important to the national economy, the negotiations on the treaty resumed in 1938 and by January 1940, substantial agreement was reached between Canada and the United States. By 1941, President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Mackenzie King made an agreement to build the joint hydro and navigation works. The railroads carried freight and goods between the ports and the Great Lakes cities. After 1945, proposals to introduce tolls to the Seaway were not sufficient to support by the U. S. Congress for the project. Growing impatient, and with Ontario desperate for the power to be generated by hydro-electricity and this seized the imagination of Canadians, engendering a groundswell of St. Lawrence nationalism. Fueled by this support, St. Laurents administration decided over the course of 1951 and 1952 to construct the waterway alone, the International Joint Commission issued an order of approval for joint construction of the dam in October 1952. U. S. Senate debate on the bill began on January 12,1953, and it received approval by the Senate and the House by May 1954. The need for cheap haulage of Quebec - Labrador iron ore was one of the arguments that finally swung the balance in favor of the seaway, ground-breaking ceremonies took place in Massena, New York, on August 10,1954

44.
North America
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North America is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere. It can also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, and to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea. North America covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers, about 16. 5% of the land area. North America is the third largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa, and the fourth by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. In 2013, its population was estimated at nearly 565 million people in 23 independent states, or about 7. 5% of the worlds population, North America was reached by its first human populations during the last glacial period, via crossing the Bering land bridge. The so-called Paleo-Indian period is taken to have lasted until about 10,000 years ago, the Classic stage spans roughly the 6th to 13th centuries. The Pre-Columbian era ended with the migrations and the arrival of European settlers during the Age of Discovery. Present-day cultural and ethnic patterns reflect different kind of interactions between European colonists, indigenous peoples, African slaves and their descendants, European influences are strongest in the northern parts of the continent while indigenous and African influences are relatively stronger in the south. Because of the history of colonialism, most North Americans speak English, Spanish or French, the Americas are usually accepted as having been named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci by the German cartographers Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann. Vespucci, who explored South America between 1497 and 1502, was the first European to suggest that the Americas were not the East Indies, but a different landmass previously unknown by Europeans. In 1507, Waldseemüller produced a map, in which he placed the word America on the continent of South America. He explained the rationale for the name in the accompanying book Cosmographiae Introductio, for Waldseemüller, no one should object to the naming of the land after its discoverer. He used the Latinized version of Vespuccis name, but in its feminine form America, following the examples of Europa, Asia and Africa. Later, other mapmakers extended the name America to the continent, In 1538. Some argue that the convention is to use the surname for naming discoveries except in the case of royalty, a minutely explored belief that has been advanced is that America was named for a Spanish sailor bearing the ancient Visigothic name of Amairick. Another is that the name is rooted in a Native American language, the term North America maintains various definitions in accordance with location and context. In Canadian English, North America may be used to refer to the United States, alternatively, usage sometimes includes Greenland and Mexico, as well as offshore islands

45.
Colombo Express
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Colombo Express is one of the largest container ships in the world. When launched in 2005, she was claimed by her owner to be the worlds largest container ship, Colombo Express holds 8,749 twenty-foot equivalent units,730 refrigerated TEUs, is 1,099 feet long, and has a beam, or width, of 140 feet. She is owned by the German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd, and operated by its Hapag-Lloyd Container Line division and she is named for Colombo, the largest city in Sri Lanka, which the predecessor company, North American Lloyd, first called on in 1886. She is the first of eight proposed Colombo Express class vessels, and is slightly larger than her Savannah Express class cousins. Colombo Express measures 93,750 gross tons and had a capacity of 104,400 metric tons. Her rated speed is 25.0 knots, built in South Korea by Hyundai Heavy Industries in 2004–2005, she was christened on 11 April 2005, and her diesel engine generates 93,500 horsepower of power. Colombo Express operates out of the homeport of Hamburg, and will travel from Europe to Southeast Asia. On 29 September 2014 Colombo Express was involved in a collision with MV Maersk Tanjong, sustained a 65 feet dent to its left side, footage of the incident was caught on video by a spectator and posted on YouTube. Colombo Express class ships, Bremen Express Chicago Express Colombo Express Hanover Express Kuala Lumpur Express Kyoto Express Osaka Express Tsingtao Express

46.
Hapag-Lloyd
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Hapag-Lloyd is a German transportation company comprising a cargo container shipping line, Hapag-Lloyd AG, which in turn owned other subsidiaries such as Hapag-Lloyd Cruises. Hapag-Lloyd AG is the fifth largest container carrier in terms of vessel capacity. The company was formed in 1970 as a merger of two 19th-century companies, Hapag, which dated from 1847, and Norddeutscher Lloyd or North German Lloyd, Hapag-Lloyd was acquired in 1998 by TUI AG and became its fully owned subsidiary in 2002. In 2009, TUI sold a majority stake to a group of investors and the City of Hamburg. The main founders of Hapag and Lloyd in the 19th century were Berenberg Bank, Fritz Albert Haas, in February 2012 the German company TUI sold more shares of the German owned company Hapag-Lloyd to the City of Hamburg which is the largest share holder with approx. 37% followed by Kuehne Maritime with 28% and TUI AG with 22%, the other shareholders are Hamburg based banks and insurances. In 2013 Hapag-Lloyd and CSAV started merger talks which ended in Hapag-Lloyd taking over the business of Chiles CSAV in December 2014. In exchange for contributing its container business CSAV received 30% of the shares in the enlarged Hapag-Lloyd company. M. Warburg & CO, Hapag-Lloyd was formed in 1970 through a merger of Hamburg America Line and the North German Lloyd. The Hamburg-Amerikanische Paketfahrt-Aktien-Gesellschaft for shipping across the Atlantic Ocean was founded in Hamburg, in 1912, Hapag built the first of their Big Three ocean liners, the Imperator, followed by her sister Vaterland. The third sister, Bismarck, was construction at the outbreak of World War I and was completed after the war for White Star Line as the Majestic. These were the first liners to exceed 50,000 gross tons and 900 feet in length. During World War I, the majority of Hapags fleet of 175 ships were wiped out, and most of the surviving ships had to be turned over to the winning side as war reparations. After wars end, Hapag rebuilt its fleet with much smaller ships than before the war, Norddeutscher Lloyd was formed in 1856 in the City-State of Bremen, offering passenger and cargo transportation between Bremen and New York, with an emphasis on emigration to the United States. Service started in June with the Bremen, the first of three steamships, and the company established its American base at Hoboken, New Jersey. NDL eventually built a fleet of ships that carried many thousands of emigrants westwards. The outbreak of World War I resulted in the internment of its 135-vessel fleet at Hoboken, likewise, its Hoboken base was confiscated, and turned over to the US Navy, which used it as a transshipping point for the duration. Operations were resumed in 1922, when NDL was able to purchase its former base from the United States Alien Property Administrator, NDL launched a new Bremen and Europa in 1929–30. At the start of World War II, NDL repeated the World War I experience, with its fleet again being confiscated when the US entered the war in 1941

Merchant Ships
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A merchant vessel or trading vessel is a boat or ship that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This excludes pleasure craft that do not carry passengers for hire, most countries of the world operate fleets of merchant ships. However, due to the costs of operations, today these fleets are in many cases sailing under the flags of nations

3.
The Colombo Express, one of the largest container ships in the world, owned and operated by Hapag-Lloyd of Germany

4.
Commercial crude oil supertanker AbQaiq

Fluyt
–
Reaction Engines Limited is a British aerospace manufacturer based in Oxfordshire, England. Reaction Engines was founded in 1989 by Alan Bond and Richard Varvill, the company conducts research into space propulsion systems, centred on the development of the Skylon re-usable SSTO spaceplane. The three founders worked together on the HOTOL project, f

3.
The SABRE engine

4.
The Reaction Engines A2 concept in the upper atmosphere

Ship
–
Historically, a ship was a sailing vessel with at least three square-rigged masts and a full bowsprit. Ships are generally distinguished from boats, based on size, shape, Ships have been important contributors to human migration and commerce. They have supported the spread of colonization and the trade, but have also served scientific, cultural. Af

1.
Italian full-rigged ship Amerigo Vespucci in New York Harbor, 1976

2.
A raft is among the simplest boat designs.

3.
Roman trireme mosaic from Carthage, Bardo Museum, Tunis.

4.
A Japanese atakebune from the 16th century

Cargo
–
Multi-modal container units, designed as reusable carriers to facilitate unit load handling of the goods contained, are also referred to as cargo, specially by shipping lines and logistics operators. Similarly, aircraft ULD boxes are also documented as cargo, with associated packing list of the contained within. When empty containers are shipped ea

1.
Cargo being unloaded from a ship using a cargo net at Haikou New Port, Haikou City, Hainan, China

Passenger
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A passenger is a person who travels in a vehicle but bears little or no responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle. Passengers are people who ride on buses, passenger trains, airliners, ships, ferryboats, historically, the concept of the passenger has existed for as long as m

1.
A passenger getting onboard of a train.

2.
Passengers on a boat in the Danube delta, 2008

3.
Passengers in the lounge car of an Amtrak San Joaquin Valley train, California, 2014

4.
PATH train with "NO PAX" on its destination sign

Warship
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A warship is a naval ship that is built and primarily intended for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the forces of a state. As well as being armed, warships are designed to damage and are usually faster. Unlike a merchant ship, which carries cargo, a warship typically carries weapons, ammunition. Warships usually belong to a navy, though they h

1.
The cannon shot (1670) by Willem van de Velde the Younger, showing a late Dutch 17th-century ship of the line

2.
Assyrian warship, a bireme with pointed bow circa 700 BC

3.
Diagrams of first and third rate warships, England, 1728

4.
The French ironclad La Gloire under sail

Dive boat
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A dive boat is a boat that recreational divers or professional scuba divers use to reach a dive site which they could not conveniently reach by swimming from the shore. Dive boats may be propelled by wind or muscle, but are powered by internal combustion engines. Some feature, like convenient access to the water, are common to all dive boats, deplo

1.
A live-aboard dive boat on the Similan Islands, Thailand

2.
Deck of a dive boat for about 35 divers, with equipment and whiteboard for dive plannings

3.
Travelling to the dive site in a fast RIB. This boat is licensed to carry 12 divers and can travel at over 30kt on flat water

4.
Divers on the deck of a day dive boat

Riverboat casino
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A riverboat casino is a type of casino on a riverboat found in several states in the United States with frontage on the Mississippi River and its tributaries, or along the Gulf Coast. Paddlewheel riverboats had long used on the Mississippi River and its tributaries to transport passengers. After railroads largely superseded them, in the 20th centur

1.
The Casino Queen, a riverboat casino formerly located on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River near St. Louis

Tugboats
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A tug is a boat or ship that maneuvers vessels by pushing or towing them. Tugboats are powerful for their size and strongly built, and some are ocean-going, some tugboats serve as icebreakers or salvage boats. Early tugboats had steam engines, but today most have diesel engines, many tugboats have firefighting monitors, allowing them to assist in f

New York Harbor
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New York Harbor, part of the Port of New York and New Jersey, is at the mouth of the Hudson River where it empties into New York Bay and into the Atlantic Ocean at the East Coast of the United States. It is one of the largest natural harbors in the world, although the United States Board on Geographic Names does not use the term, New York Harbor ha

1.
A 1981 view looking southwest: Wallabout Bay and East River (foreground), Hudson River (at right), Upper New York Bay (middlle) and Newark Bay in the distance.

2.
Nieuw Amsterdam, Lower Manhattan: Early East River docks along left bottom; protective wall against the British on right. West is at top. (Castello Plan, 1660)

3.
The Statue of Liberty

4.
New York Harbor, oil painting by George McCord (1848–1909)

Container ship
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Container ships are cargo ships that carry all of their load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. They are a means of commercial intermodal freight transport and now carry most seagoing non-bulk cargo. Container ship capacity is measured in equivalent units. Typical loads are a mix of 20-foot and 40-foot ISO-

Submarine
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A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability, the term most commonly refers to a large, crewed vessel. It is also used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely operated vehicles and robots, as well as medium-sized or smaller vessels, suc

1.
A Russian Navy Typhoon-class submarine underway. Also known as "Project 941".

2.
Drebbel, the first navigable submarine

3.
The French submarine Plongeur

4.
The Nordenfelt -designed, Ottoman submarine Abdül Hamid

U.S. Virgin Islands
–
The United States Virgin Islands, officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of islands in the Caribbean that are an insular area of the United States. The islands are part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles. The U. S. Virgin Islands consist of the islands of Saint Cr

1.
The aftermath of Hurricane Marilyn on the island of St. Thomas, 1995.

2.
Flag

3.
Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, the Islands' capital.

4.
Christiansted, the largest town on St. Croix.

Flags of convenience
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Flag of convenience is a business practice whereby a merchant ship is registered in a country other than that of the ships owners, and the ship flies that countrys civil ensign. Owners of a ship may register the ship under a flag of convenience to reduce operating costs or avoid the regulations of the owners country, the closely related term open r

1.
MOL Pride, owned and operated by the Japanese company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, flying the flag of Liberia.

2.
The sinking of Amoco Cadiz led to concerted ship inspections by port states.

3.
The engineers of the Seamen's Act, from left to right, maritime labor leader Andrew Furuseth, Senator Robert La Follette, and muckraker Lincoln Steffens, circa 1915

Transport in Panama
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Transport in Panama is fairly well developed. The majority of the trips are done by car while a part in public transport. The public transportation system is in need of modernization and other improvements, in Panama there are 4 expressways working, all of them requiring toll payment, Corredor Sur, Runs from Panama City to the Tocumen International

1.
Mules manouvring a ship through the Miraflores locks in the Panama Canal.

Greek shipping
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Greece is a maritime nation by tradition, as shipping is arguably the oldest form of occupation of the Greeks and has been a key element of Greek economic activity since ancient times. Today, shipping is the countrys most important industry and it accounts for 6. 5% of GDP, employs about 290,000 people, and shipping receipts are about 1/3 of the na

1.
The building of the Ministry of Shipping at the Port of Piraeus

2.
Greece controls 23.2% of the world's total merchant fleet, making it the largest in the world. Greece is ranked in the top for all kinds of ships, including first for tankers and bulk carriers.

Navy
–
A navy or maritime force is a fleet of waterborne military vessels and its associated naval aviation, both sea-based and land-based. It is the branch of an armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare, namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations. The strategic offensive role of a navy is projecti

1.
The Spanish Armada fighting the English navy at the Battle of Gravelines in 1588

2.
INS Vikramaditya (R33) with a Sea Harrier aircraft in the Arabian Sea. It is the Indian Navy 's largest aircraft carrier.

3.
HMS Victory, the oldest warship still in commission in the world.

4.
Dreadnoughts of the High Seas Fleet of World War I.

Military
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The task of the military is usually defined as defense of the state, and its citizens, and the prosecution of war against another state. The profession of soldiering as part of a military is older than recorded history itself, some of the most enduring images of the classical antiquity portray the power and feats of its military leaders. The Battle

1.
Soldiers from the Canadian Grenadier Guards in the Kandahar Province of Afghanistan

2.
CF-18 Hornet launches a laser-guided bomb

3.
The Kawasaki C-1 is a tactical military transport of the Japan Air Self-Defence Force.

4.
Dutch civilians celebrating the arrival of the I Canadian Corps in Utrecht as the Canadian Army liberates the Netherlands from Nazi occupation

United States Coast Guard
–
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the countrys seven uniformed services. This has happened twice, in 1917, during World War I, created by Congress on 4 August 1790 at the request of Alexander Hamilton as the Revenue Marine, it is the oldest continuous seagoing service of the United States. As Sec

1.
A boatswain's mate watches from the side port door as Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf's Over-The-Horizon small boat departs to receive personnel from Coast Guard Cutter Chandeleur in 2008.

2.
The official seal of the United States Coast Guard, adopted in December 1966.

3.
A Coast Guard Aviation Survival Technician assisting with the rescue of a pregnant woman during Hurricane Katrina.

4.
Search and Rescue Program Logo of the United States Coast Guard.

Trade
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Trade, or commerce, involves the transfer of goods or services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. A network that allows trade is called a market, the original form of trade, barter, saw the direct exchange of goods and services for other goods and services. Barter is trading things without the use of money, later one

1.
A San Juan de Dios Market in Guadalajara, Jalisco.

2.
A trader in Germany, 16th century

3.
The Liberty to Trade as Buttressed by National Law (1909) by George Howard Earle, Jr.

4.
A map of the Silk Road trade route between Europe and Asia.

British Merchant Navy
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The Merchant Navy is the maritime register of the United Kingdom, and describes the seagoing commercial interests of UK-registered ships and their crews. Merchant Navy vessels fly the Red Ensign and are regulated by the Maritime, king George V bestowed the title of Merchant Navy on the British merchant shipping fleets following their service in the

1.
Badge of the British Merchant Navy

2.
Second World War poster highlighting wartime dangers that the Merchant Navy faced

3.
The British steamer Andex sinking after being torpedoed by a U-boat.

4.
An example of Merchant Navy Officers, graduating at their 'passing out' ceremony from Warsash Maritime Academy in Southampton, with Former First Sea Lord Alan West, Baron West of Spithead, in 2011.

United States Merchant Marine
–
The United States Merchant Marine refers to either United States civilian mariners, or to U. S. civilian and federally owned merchant vessels. Merchant Marine officers may also be commissioned as officers by the Department of Defense. This is commonly achieved by commissioning unlimited tonnage Merchant Marine officers as Strategic Sealift Officers

1.
Flag of the United States Merchant Marine

2.
United States Merchant Marine emblem

3.
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo explored the coast of California in 1542. This chart of the " Island of California " dates to 1640.

4.
Naval battle off halifax between the American Privateer Ship Jack crewed by U.S. Merchant Mariners and the HMS Observer by Night on the 29th of May 1782.

Cable layer
–
A cable layer or cable ship is a deep-sea vessel designed and used to lay underwater cables for telecommunications, electric power transmission, or other purposes. Cable ships are distinguished by large cable sheaves for guiding cable over bow or stern or both, the names of cable ships are often preceded by C. S. as in CS Long Lines. The first tran

1.
CS Cable Innovator at anchor in Astoria, Oregon, showing a modern design without bow sheaves.

Gas carrier
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A gas carrier is a ship designed to transport LPG, LNG or liquefied chemical gases in bulk. The seaborne transport of liquefied gases began in 1934 when an international company put two combined oil/LPG tankers into operation. The ships, basically oil tankers, had converted by fitting small, riveted. This enabled transport over long distances of su

Liquefied petroleum gas
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It is increasingly used as an aerosol propellant and a refrigerant, replacing chlorofluorocarbons in an effort to reduce damage to the ozone layer. When specifically used as a fuel it is often referred to as autogas. Varieties of LPG bought and sold include mixes that are mostly propane, mostly butane and, most commonly, in the northern hemisphere

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Two 45 kg (99 lb) LPG cylinders in New Zealand used for domestic supply.

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LPG minibuses in Hong Kong

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Cylinders with LP gas in India

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LPG filling connector on a car

Liquefied natural gas
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Liquefied natural gas is natural gas that has been converted to liquid form for ease of storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume of gas in the gaseous state. It is odorless, colorless, toxic and non-corrosive, hazards include flammability after vaporization into a gaseous state, freezing and asphyxia. The liquefaction process invo

1.
LNG storage tank at EG LNG

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Tanker LNG Rivers, LNG capacity of 135,000 cubic metres

4.
Types

Ship prefix
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A ship prefix is a combination of letters, usually abbreviations, used in front of the name of a civilian or naval ship. Prefixes for civilian vessels may either identify the type of propulsion, such as PS for paddle steamer, or purpose, civilian prefixes are often used inconsistently, and frequently not at all. Sometimes a slash is used to separat

Cargo ship
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A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the worlds seas and oceans each year, cargo ships are usually specially designed for the task, often being equipped with cranes and other mechanisms to load and unload, and come in all sizes. Tod

1.
The Colombo Express, one of the largest container ships in the world (when she was built in 2005), owned and operated by Hapag-Lloyd of Germany

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Loading of a general cargo vessel in 1959

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A Delmas container ship unloading at the Zanzibar port in Tanzania

International trade
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International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories. It is the exchange of goods and services among nations of the world, in most countries, such trade represents a significant share of gross domestic product. While international trade has existed throughout history, its economic, social,

2.
Ancient Silk Road trade routes across Eurasia

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The law of comparative advantage was first proposed by David Ricardo.

4.
Terminology

Crane (machine)
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A crane is a type of machine, generally equipped with a hoist rope, wire ropes or chains, and sheaves, that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to move them horizontally. It is mainly used for lifting heavy things and transporting them to other places, the device uses one or more simple machines to create mechanical advantage and thus

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Reconstruction of a 10.4 m high Roman Polyspastos powered by a treadwheel at Bonn, Germany

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A modern mobile crane with outriggers. The latticed boom is fitted with a gib.

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Medieval port crane for mounting masts and lifting heavy cargo in the former Hanse town of Gdańsk

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Double treadwheel crane in Pieter Bruegel's The Tower of Babel

Dry cargo ships
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A bulk carrier, bulk freighter, or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo, such as grains, coal, ore, and cement in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, economic forces have fuelled the development of ships, causing them to grow in size. Todays bulkers are specially de

Bulk carrier
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A bulk carrier, bulk freighter, or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo, such as grains, coal, ore, and cement in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, economic forces have fuelled the development of ships, causing them to grow in size. Todays bulkers are specially de

Coal
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Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure. Coal is composed primarily of carbon, along with quantities of other el

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Anthracite coal

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Bituminous coal

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Coastal exposure of the Point Aconi Seam (Nova Scotia)

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Coal miner in Britain, 1942

Rubber
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Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds, plus water. Malaysia and Indonesia are two of the leading rubber producers, forms of polyisoprene that are used as natural rubbers are classified as elastomers. Curre

1.
Latex being collected from a tapped rubber tree, Cameroon.

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Rubber tree plantation of Thailand.

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Rubber latex

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Rubber is generally cultivated in large plantations. The image shows a coconut shell used in collecting latex, in plantations in Kerala,India

Copra
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Copra is the dried meat, or dried kernel, of the coconut used to extract coconut oil. The earliest evidence of the extracting and use of oil from copra is in early Tamil literature from the 1st century AD. The word originated from the Malayalam word koppra, Coconut oil is extracted from it and this has made copra an important agricultural commodity

Tin
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Tin is a chemical element with symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a metal in group 14 of the periodic table. It is obtained chiefly from the mineral cassiterite, which contains tin dioxide, Tin shows a chemical similarity to both of its neighbors in group 14, germanium and lead, and has two main oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable

Wheat
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Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region but now cultivated worldwide. In 2016, world production of wheat was 749 million tonnes, making it the second most-produced cereal after maize, since 1960, world production of wheat and other grain crops has tripled and is expected to grow further through the middle of the 21st Century. Thi

1.
Wheat

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Spikelets of a hulled wheat, einkorn

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Green wheat a month before harvest

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Wheat harvest on the Palouse, Idaho, United States

Ocean
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An ocean is a body of saline water that composes much of a planets hydrosphere. On Earth, an ocean is one of the major divisions of the World Ocean. These are, in descending order by area, the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern, the word sea is often used interchangeably with ocean in American English but, strictly speaking, a sea is a body of sal

3.
Two models for the composition of Europa predict a large subsurface ocean of liquid water. Similar models have been proposed for other celestial bodies in the Solar System

4.
Diagram showing a possible internal structure of Ceres

Bulk cargo
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Bulk cargo is commodity cargo that is transported unpackaged in large quantities. It refers to material in liquid or granular, particulate form, as a mass of relatively small solids, such as petroleum/crude oil, grain, coal. This cargo is usually dropped or poured, with a spout or shovel bucket, into a bulk carrier ships hold, railroad car/railway

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A mini-bulker taking on cargo in Brest.

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Modern tank cars carry all types of liquid and gaseous commodities.

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This heap of iron ore pellets will be used in steel production.

Iron ore
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Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow. The iron itself is found in the form of magnetite, hematite, goethite, limonite or siderite. Ores containing very high quantities of hematite or magnetite are known as ore or dire

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Hematite: the main iron ore in Brazilian mines

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This stockpile of iron ore pellets will be used in steel production.

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Processed taconite pellets with reddish surface oxidation as used in the steelmaking industry, with a US Quarter (diameter: 24 mm (0.96 in)) shown for scale

Lake freighter
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Lake freighters, or lakers, are bulk carrier vessels that ply the Great Lakes of North America. These vessels are called boats, although classified as ships. Lakers carry bulk cargoes of materials such as limestone, iron ore, grain, coal or salt from the mines, the 63 commercial ports handled 173 million tons of cargo in 2006. Because of winter ice

Great Lakes
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Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth, containing 21% of the worlds surface fresh water by volume. The total surface is 94,250 square miles, and the volume is 5,439 cubic miles. Due to their sea-like characteristics the five Great Lakes have also long been referred

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Satellite image of the Great Lakes, April 24, 2000, with lake names added

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Terra MODIS image of the Great Lakes, January 27, 2005, showing ice beginning to build up around the shores of each of the lakes, with snow on the ground.

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Photograph of Lakes Ontario, Erie and Huron plus the Finger Lakes of upstate New York, June 14, 2012, taken aboard the International Space Station, with lake names added

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Toronto on Lake Ontario is in the eastern section of the Great Lakes Megalopolis

St. Lawrence Seaway
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The Seaway is named for the Saint Lawrence River, which flows from Lake Ontario to the Atlantic Ocean. Legally, the Seaway extends from Montreal, Quebec, to Lake Erie, Lawrence River to bypass several rapids and dams along the way. The section of the downstream of Montreal, which is fully within Canadian jurisdiction, is regulated by the offices of

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The Eisenhower Locks in Massena, NY.

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Logo of the St. Lawrence Seaway

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Iroquois Locks

4.
Main lakes

North America
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North America is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere. It can also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, and to the southeast by South America and the Car

1.
Map of North America, from 1621.

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North America

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The El Castillo pyramid, at Chichén Itzá, Mexico.

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Benjamin West 's The Death of General Wolfe (1771) depicting the Battle of the Plains of Abraham.

Colombo Express
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Colombo Express is one of the largest container ships in the world. When launched in 2005, she was claimed by her owner to be the worlds largest container ship, Colombo Express holds 8,749 twenty-foot equivalent units,730 refrigerated TEUs, is 1,099 feet long, and has a beam, or width, of 140 feet. She is owned by the German shipping company Hapag-

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Colombo Express on her maiden voyage to Hamburg, with the Köhlbrand bridge in the background, in April 2005

Hapag-Lloyd
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Hapag-Lloyd is a German transportation company comprising a cargo container shipping line, Hapag-Lloyd AG, which in turn owned other subsidiaries such as Hapag-Lloyd Cruises. Hapag-Lloyd AG is the fifth largest container carrier in terms of vessel capacity. The company was formed in 1970 as a merger of two 19th-century companies, Hapag, which dated

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Headquarters of Hapag-Lloyd in Hamburg

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Four ex-German liners are laid up from left to right Monticello (former Kaiser Wilhelm II / USS Agamemnon ID-3004), USAT Mount Vernon (former Kronprinzessin Cecilie), USAT America (former America) and USAT George Washington laid up in 1939 in the Patuxent River off Chesapeake Bay

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The NDL liner Kaiser Wilhelm II, which made its maiden voyage in 1903

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Stagecoach transferred to a rail car with a simple Portainer, an example of early intermodal freight transport by the French Mail, 1844. The drawing is exhibited in Deutsches Museum Verkehrszentrum, Munich, Germany.

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RMS Queen Mary, pictured during her service days, is now a floating museum in Long Beach, California – and one of the last surviving Atlantic liners.

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RMS Lusitania arriving in New York in 1907. As the primary means of trans-oceanic voyages for over a century, ocean liners were essential to the transportation needs of national governments, business firms, and the general public.

1.
Pride of Bilbao (now SPL Princess Anastasia), an archetypical cruiseferry. Built for Rederi AB Slite for the Baltic cruise market and operated until 2010 by P&O Ferries between Portsmouth in the UK and Bilbao in the Basque Country. She was sold by Irish Continental Group at the end of her charter to P&O Ferries in 2010 and she now operates for St. Peter Line between Stockholm Tallinn Helsinki and Saint Petersburg.