Dublin Port Company is aware that many visitors to this site may not be familiar with some of the terms used within. In order to make the site more user-friendly a glossary of terms has been detailed here.
RoRo Roll On Roll Off cargo. RoRo is a cargo handling method wherby vessels are loaded via one or more ramps that are lowered on the quay or lowered onto the vessel. Essentially RoRo is comprised of cargo items that can be driven on/off a vessel. These include Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs), cars, buses and other vehicular traffic.
LoLo Lift On Lift Off cargo is a unitised or containerised cargo handling method by which vessels are loaded or unloaded by either shore or ship cranes
TEU Twentyfoot Equivalent Unit. LoLo cargo is normally measured in TEUs. A forty foot long container (FEU) equates to two TEUs. Container vessel capacity and port throughput capacity are frequently measured in TEUs
Liquid Bulk cargo includes oil, petroleum, chemicals, molasses, liquid petroleum gas (LPG) and bitumen.
Dry Bulk is loose mostly uniform cargo normally loaded/discharged by crane. Cargo types include animal foodstuffs, coal, fertilizer, cement fines, peat, minerals, grain, ecocem (fertilizer slag) etc.
Break Bulk is general loose non-containerised cargo, stowed directly in a ships hold.
Pilotage is the act of advising the master of a ship in navigation when entering or leaving a port in confined water.
Towage is the provision of a tug vessl to assist other vessels in safe operation within the port
Stevedore is an individual or firm that employs longshoremen (or dockers, dock workers or port workers) to load and unload vessels.
Dredging is the removal of sediment to deepen access channels, provide turning basins for ships and to maintain adequate water depth along waterside facilities.