In the old days, the responsibilities of the Chief Mate was to plan and stow his cargo from cradle to the grave. Because of the telecommunication and technology advancement, the responsibility is shifted to three parties who are jointly planning and stowing the freight containers on board the ship. Today, Chief Mate is one of these 3 parties. The other two are the land-based centralized Planning Center and the stevedore terminal. They all have the same common goals but in a different priority. This page is to unveil their common goals and how the three parties prioritize them when a conflict of interests arises. First, Let us summarize their common interests as follows:

      • The Safety of the crew, vessel, cargo and environment;
      • Vessel turn-around;
      • Schedule Reliability; and
      • Cargo Intake and Terminal Productivity"

For the Land-side Planning Center, their first priority is to load as many as export containers as possible. The vessel schedule reliability is their next high priority. These pressures come from Sales Department which doesn't want to hear any container being cut nor the ship is late. They will overstow their containers, and/or compromise stack/tier weight restrictions and hazmat segregations. They may sacrifice the marine environment protection, increase the risk of cargo damages (reefer cargo in particular), overstress on the vessel structure in return of loading all containers booked for the vessel.

For the stevedore terminal, their priority is to discharge and load containers as fast as possible. The less rehandling of the container when it is in the custody of Terminal Operator, the better it is for them. It is because their revenue is based on the thru-put rate of each container being handled. They will not physically weigh the export containers from their on-dock Rail Yard. They will adhere to the stowage plan given by the Planning Center. However, they will not pay too much attention of loading all light containers on top of the heavy containers. They will ignore the container weight inaccuracy as well as hazmat declaration/placarding accuracy. They won't watch closely the condition of containers and the seal integrity. They will exceed the maximum stack/tier weight limits. They may place the wrong stacking cones or miss one or two here or there. They may not lash/secure the containers as well as OOG cargo as firmly as it should be. They may damage the cell guides, the leave-on containers, or other ship's structure during the course of stevedoring. They may work on one side more than on the other side causing the ship to list to one side.

For the ship officer, his first and foremost priority is safety to the crew members, ships, cargo and environment. The reason is obviously that he and his fellow shipmates live on board the ship. Their personal lives are at stake. He acts as a police officer and makes sure that Hazmat segregation is in full compliance with the IMDG Code, the stack and tier weight don't exceed the maximum limit, the actual stowage is in agreement with the pre-stowage plan, the container weight and cargo declaration are in an apparent good order, his ship's departure condition and stability exceed the minimum requirements as well as the arrival condition to his next port of call, all containers/OOG Cargo are properly secured and lashed down, the visibility line of sight has met the SOLAS standard, and any damage to containers and ships are noted.

After all, it is a delicate balance among all three parties in order to achieve their common interests. Close communication and mutual cooperation are vital to a safe and effective means of managing any container ship today. Click here to view their commom stowage objectives in details.