Okuzeka
Maritime & Shipping vocabulary · Cargo Handling

Ballast

Meaning in maritime & shipping, with examples

/ˈbæləst/nounCore term

In maritime & shipping, ballast means: Seawater, or sometimes another heavy material, carried in special tanks to keep a ship stable, upright and at a safe draught when it has little or no cargo.

In Turkish: balast, safra, balast suyu

How it is used

Ships take in ballast while discharging and deballast while loading. A ship 'in ballast' is sailing empty to her next loading port. Ballast water must be treated or exchanged so that marine species are not carried to new areas.

Example sentences

  1. We are sailing in ballast to Brazil to load soybeans.

  2. Start deballasting the double-bottom tanks when loading reaches 60 percent.

Common collocations

  • in ballast
  • ballast tank
  • ballast water
  • deballast
  • ballast water management
  • draughtThe vertical distance between the waterline and the lowest point of a ship's keel. It shows how deep the ship sits in the water and changes with cargo and ballast.
  • dischargeTo unload cargo from a ship in port. As a noun, discharge means the unloading operation itself.
  • deadweightThe total weight a ship can safely carry, including cargo, fuel, fresh water, stores and crew, measured in tonnes. It is usually written DWT.
  • bilgeThe lowest part inside a ship's hull, where water, oil and other liquids collect. The mixture that collects there is called bilge water.

More terms: Cargo Handling

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