Introduction

General cargo is a term which covers a great variety of goods. Those goods may be in bags, cases, crates, drums or barrels, or they may be kept together in bales. They could be individual parcels, castings or machinery parts, earthenware or confectionary. They all come under the collective term of general cargo .

The Chief Officer is usually that person designated on board the vessel who is responsible for the handling and safe stowage of all cargoes loaded aboard the ship. He is responsible for receiving the cargoes, and making sure that the holds are clean and ready to accept stowage and shipping in a safe manner. He is ultimately responsible for the carriage ventilation and delivery in good condition of all of the vessel's cargo.

In order to carry goods safely, the vessel must be seaworthy and the cargo spaces must be in such a condition as not to damage cargo parcels by ships sweat, taint or cause any other harmful factor. To this end the Chief Officer would cause a cargo plan to be constructed to ensure that separation of cargoes are easily identifiable and that no contamination of products could take place during the course of the voyage. The Chief Officer's prime areas of duty lie with the well-being and stability of the vessel together with the safe carriage of the cargo. Clearly, with the excessive weights involved with cargo parcels, the positive stability affecting the vessel's safe voyage could be impaired.

A correct order of...