Maritime Terms, Abbreviations and Acronyms

Hellenic Shipbrokers Association

Held covered

Hold/Hatch

Hague Visby Rules

Hydrogen sulfide is the chemical compound with the formula H2S. It is a colorless, very poisonous, flammable gas with the characteristic foul odor of rotten eggs.

Hatch

Capable of causing injury to the blood and/or blood-forming tissues.

Hose Ancillary Equipment & Managing Hoses in the Field

A multilateral maritime treaty adopted in 1921 (at The Hague, Netherlands). Standardizes liability of an international carrier under the Ocean B/L. Establishes a legal “floor” for B/L. See COGSA

A mark indicating quality or excellence.

Previously used on ships as an effective fire-extinguishing medium, harmful to the ozone layer in the atmosphere

Hand over hand was a British term for the act of moving quickly up a rope or hoisting a sail, which was a matter of pride and competition among sailors. It is thought that American sailors changed this term to ‘hand over fist’, and the term now means to advance or accumulate rapidly.

Vessel designed for carrying refined petroleum products in bulk tanks (19,001 dwt - 25,000 dwt approx )

A tankship suited to tie up at a T2 type pier. The mooring capacity of such berths restricts vessel length (LOA) to a maximum of 560-600 feet. In modern ship designs, this LOA allows a deadweight tonnage slightly exceeding 30,000. Such a tanker defines the limit of a handy-sized cargo.

Handymax or Supramax is a naval architecture term for a bulk carrier, typically between 35,000 and 60,000 metric tons deadweight (DWT). A handymax ship is typically 150–200 m (492–656 ft) in length, though certain bulk terminal restrictions, such as those in Japan, mean that many handymax ships are just under 190 meters (623 ft) in overall length. Modern handymax designs are typically 52,000-58,000 DWT in size, have five cargo holds, and four cranes of 30 tonnes (33.1 ST; 29.5 LT) lifting capacity.

A dry bulk vessel of 35,000 to 49,000dwt. (Note that a “Handy” drybulk carrier is from 10,000 to 34,000dwt.) A “Handymax Tanker” is a liquid bulk carrier of 10,000 to 60,000dwt.

Usually refers to a dry bulk vessel with deadweight of about 15,000–35,000 tons. The most common industry-standard specification handysize bulker is now about 32,000 metric tons of deadweight on a summer draft of about 10 metres (33 ft), and features 5 cargo holds with hydraulically operated hatch covers, with four 30 metric ton cranes for cargo handling. Some handysizes are also fitted with stanchions to enable logs to be loaded in stacks on deck. Such vessels are often referred to as 'handy loggers'.

A product tanker that ranges in size between 27,000 and 39,999 deadweight tonnes.

A harbor is a sheltered part of a body of water deep enough to provide anchorage for ships or a place of refuge. Key features of all harbors include shelter from both long-and short period open ocean waves, easy safe access to the ocean in all types of weather, adequate depth and maneuvering room within the harbor, shelter from storm winds and cost-effective navigation channel dredging.

Tugboats are designed to be powerful enough to push and pull objects many times their size. Harbor tugs are essential in every port to help maneuver large ships through narrow harbors and to assist them in docking and undocking from confined spaces. Harbor tugs use short towlines and the physical force of pushing the large ships with their rubber fendered bows and sterns to guide them.

An official responsible for construction, maintenance, operation, regulation, enforcement, administra- tion and management pertaining to marinas, ports and harbors.

A ship that was hard and fast was simply one that was firmly beached on land. Has come to mean ‘rigidly adhered to – without doubt or debate’.

A generic term used primarily in the confectionery industry to describe a class of fats with physical characteristics similar to those of cocoa butter or dairy butter.

Hard is another often used nautical term. To put the helm hard over is to put it as far as it will go in that direction. Hard and fast describes a vessel firmly aground and unable to make progress and has come ashore to mean rigid. ‘Hard up in a clinch and no knife to cut the seizing’, the term from which hard up derives, was a sailor’s way of saying he had been overtaken by misfortune and saw no way of getting clear of it. Shore-side, the term means in need.

An international goods classification system for describing cargo in international trade under a single commodity–coding scheme. Developed under the auspices of the Customs Cooperations Council (CCC), an international Customs organization in Brussels, this code is a hierarchically structured prod- uct nomenclature containing approximately 5,000 headings and subheadings. It is organized into 99 chapters arranged in 22 sections. Sections encompass an industry (e.g., Section XI, Textiles and Textile Articles); chapters encompass the various materials and products of the indus- try (e.g., Chapter 50, Silk; Chapter 55, Manmade Staple Fibers; Chapter 57, Carpets). The basic code contains four–digit headings and six–digit subheadings. Many countries add digits for Customs tariff and statistical purposes. In the United States, duty rates will be the eight–digit level; statistical suffixes will be at the ten–digit level. The Harmonized System (HS) is the current U.S. tariff schedule (TSUSA) for imports and is the basis for the ten–digit Schedule B export code.

Highest astronomical tide

The opening in the deck of a vessel; gives access to the cargo hold.

Hazardous Material

The hazard associated with a chemical is its intrinsic ability to cause an adverse effect. It should be compared to risk, which is the chance that such effects will occur. Whilst a chemical may have hazardous properties, provided it is handled safely under contained conditions, any risk to human health or the environment is extremely low.

Any chemical that is a physical (i.e. -flammable, reactive) or health (i.e. irritant, carcinogen) hazard

Harmless Bulk Fertilizer

Hot Briquetted Iron

Hydrostatic Balanced Loading (Marpol 13g): A process that may be adopted by single hull tankers if they wish to trade beyond 25 years of age through to final "phase-out" date at 30 years of age. This method of operation is designed to reduce the environ

Hamburg range

Hatch cover; Hold cleaning

Hydro-chlorofluorocarbon compounds, such as freon 22 (R22)

Head charterers

Hydrochloric Acid

Ho Chi Minh City

Half DIspatch or Per hatch per day

Half dispatch all time saved

Half dispatch all time saved both ends

Hatch delivery

Half Dispatch Lay Time Saved Both Ends

High-density polyethylene. A plastic that is used predominantly in the manufacture of blow-molded bottles for milk and household cleaners and injection-molded pails, bottle caps, appliance housings, and toys.

Half Despatch Working Time Saved

Half dispatch working time saved both ends

Half despatch working time saved both ends

A chemical for which there is statistically significant evidence that acute or chronic health effects may occur in exposed employees

A distillation fraction restricted to a narrow range to meet specific needs. The navy, for instance, buys a heart cut of ordinary jet kero known as JP-5.

The process by which the natural carotene which colours crude palm oil is destroyed in the final stage of refining during deodorisation at temperatures above 240°C. Sometimes called "thermal bleaching".

Ship Stability: is the linear vertical (up/down) motion

see CONDENSATES

Crude oil that is more difficult to pump and process due to a higher viscosity.

A dense, opaque petroleum derivative made from the unboiled material, the bottoms or residue, from crude vacuum distillation units plus, perhaps heavy product from crackers. Blends made to meet market or specific customers standards often also include quality improvers called cutter. Material marketable for burning fits the Number 6 (No. 6) oil description in ASTMD 396. Ships consume a good portion of the No. 6 oil produced around the world. Seafarers customarily call their vessels fuel bunkers. Some people use that name for all heavy fuel oil.

"Heavy grade Oil: o crude oils, having a density at 15º C higher than 900 kg/m3; o oils, other than crude oils, having either a density at 15º C higher than 900 kg/m3 or a kinematic viscosity at 50 º C higher than 180 mm2/s; or; o bitumen, tar and their emulsions."

An ethylene plant equipped to crack naphthas or gasoils.

A cargo vessel able to carry heavy and/or outsized individual cargoes. Cargo may be carried on deck or in holds and may be loaded by crane and/or ro-ro ramps

A heavy load carrier which is semi submersible for the float on loading/unloading of the cargoes

Refers to metals such as copper and iron. Their presence in oils and fats is undesirable due to their pro-oxidant effect.

A naphtha cut with a boiling range which commonly extends from the end of the light naphtha range (300-400 F, depending on the intentions and needs of the refiner). See naphtha.

A variety of catalytic cracker designed to process straight-run fuel oil instead of vacuum gasoil.

Additional ballast loaded into cargo tanks to enable the vessel to maintain a safe sea-going condition under extreme weather conditions.

A charge made for lifting articles too heavy to be lifted by a ship’s normal tackle.

Harmonized Electronic Data Set. The European Council Regulation (EEC) 793/93 requires producers and importers of chemical substances to submit to the European Commission data concerning a number of chemicals, if the production or import volume exceeds certain limits. This serves to evaluate and control the risks of existing substances. The data must be supplied on computer readable diskettes written with the HEDSET, or Harmonized Electronic Data Set, program.

HELicopter DecK

A combat vessel designed to enable the carriage, take off and landing of helicopters

Half

High frequency (HF) radio frequencies are between 3 and 30 MHz. Frequencies immediately below HF are denoted Medium-frequency (MF), and the next higher frequencies are known as Very high frequency (VHF).

Haifa

Hydrofluorocarbons

Heavy fuel oil

Heavy Goods (vehicle) or Heavy Grain

Mercury Working Group

Ports between and inclusive of Le Havre and Hamburg

Hogshead

Handy Heavy Dead Weight (e.g. scrap)

Heavy, handy, deadweight scrap

Hull interest insurance

This term originally referred to ships that were beached. The ‘dry’ implies that, not only were they out of the water, but had been for some time and could be expected to remain so.

A description of distillate or residual fuel oils which do not flow at unusually low temperatures. Often, the term designates ordinary product and distinguishes it from material with uncommonly good cold properties.

Tank cleaning: High Purity Standard is required for very sensitive cargoes to be loaded such as products applied in food processing (Food Grade) or in pharma production (USP), where any contamination is a potentially high risk for the application. Another category of product that typically requires high purity standard are all active solvents, such as chlorinated hydrocarbons, glycol ethers, light alcohols (e.g. methanol), ketones (e.g. acetone) and many hydrocarbons (e.g. hexene). These chemicals tend to dissolve all remaining impurities resulting in potential contamination of the substance. Sometimes chemical companies require High Purity Standard because the application of the product in chemical processing is very sensitive to contamination (e.g. poisoning of catalyst) and is thus comparable with the requirements for food or pharma grade. In MIRACLE for every product the typical cleanliness standard is listed. Depending on companies and their quality requirements those standards might deviate from the usual cleanliness requirement.

A crude oil which due to its viscosity alone requires heating during transportation, COW or discharge. These bypes of crude oil generally have a high aromatic content.

Herosene which features a higher than normal flash point. This quality makes kero safer in critical circumstances. Primarily, it suits such distillate for use as gasoil blendstock.

Distillate fuel oil suitable for powering compression ignition engines operated above 1,000 RPM. Diesel of this quality fits ASTM classifications No. 2-D. Light-duty engines such as those which power trucks, buses, portable electricity generators, small boats, and some locomotives, burn this grade of fuel.

Compression of a flat or standard bale of cotton to approximately 32 pounds per cubic foot. Usually applies to cotton exported or shipped coastwise.

See Ethyleneamines

Higher olefins are hydrocarbons that have chains of up to 20 or more carbonatoms, and are converted to products such as plastics, plasticizers, and other high value chemicals.

T/C remuneration

C/P where the charterer gets ownership of the vessel at the conclusion of the C/P

The prudent thing to do when subjected to a French broadside

The marrying of two or more portions of one shipment that originate at different locations, mov- ing under one bill of lading, from one shipper to one consignee. Authority for this service must be granted by tariff publication. See Bill of Lading.

Hong Kong

Heavy lift

Harmless

Heavy motor block

Heavy Melting Scrap or Her (His) Majesty's Ship

Hazardous Materials Technician

Hazardous and Noxious Substance

Hold or Head office