Paper Products
Paper products are highly valuable and great care must be taken in their handling and carriage.
Newsprint: The most valuable of paper products carried in large quantities is newsprint.
Today there are specialised vessels to transport this product in rolls, fitted perhaps with sophisticated suction-head clamp type cargo gear, enabling the lifting and stowing of several rolls at once. The rolls are usually loaded end-on several tiers high. Singledeck vessels with box-type holds and wide hatchways are used. All protrusions in Cargo holds should be covered with dunnage to protect the rolls which should be further secured and prevented from shifting and becoming mis-shapen at sea. Newsprint is carried at sea in rolls of three basic sizes, each of 92 ems diameter, although some modern presses are gearing up to using rolls of I metre diameter. The lengths of the rolls (the heights when stowed ‘end-on’ in a ship) range from a main of 160 ems (700 kgs) to a three-quarters main of 120 ems (525 kgs) to a half main of 80 ems length (350 kgs weight). Largely exported from North America and from Scandinavia.
Linerboard: Brown paper rolls used in packaging and carton manufacture, also known as kraft Iinerboard or, simply, kraft paper. Somewhat bulker than newsprint rolls and varying in length of roll from 1.2 to 2 mtres, kraft paper weighs around 1 tonne for each metre of length. Unlike newsprint, linerboard is strong enough to permit stowage on its side as well as end-on, if necessary occasionally being left pre-slung with cords for ease of discharge lifting. Its stowage factor in particularly suitable ships is around 65/90 cubic feet per tonne. Sack-craft paper, fluted or corrugated papers are more prone to damage than is kraft linerboard and must be treated somewhat more gently.
Waste-paper; Used for re-cycling in the paper industry, waste paper is occasionally moved in large quantities by sea in bales of varying dimensions, particularly to India. The stowage factor of baled waste paper is around 85/135 cubic feet per tonne but, if the paper is mechanically pressed, it can stow somewhat less than this, say around 50/55.