Steel Shipping

What is steel as a sea-borne cargo?

Steel products in finished form (coils, plates, billets, rebar and structural beams) are semi-bulk and break-bulk cargoes carried under the IMO Cargo Stowage and Securing Code, not under a single IMSBC schedule, and their fixture risk centres on lashing failure in heavy weather and on rust claims at delivery.

The phrase “steel shipping” covers a family of cargoes that share a producer (the steel mill) and a regulatory home (the IMO CSS Code) but otherwise look different in the hold. Hot-rolled and cold-rolled coils, plates, slabs, billets, rebar bundles, structural beams and wire rod each ship in distinct stowage patterns. They are mostly handled as break-bulk or semi-bulk on conventional bulk carriers and tween-deckers rather than as homogeneous bulk. The principal regulatory reference is the IMO Code of Safe Practice for Cargo Stowage and Securing (the CSS Code), which sets lashing, dunnage and securing requirements for unitised steel cargoes. The IMSBC Code 2024 covers steel cargoes only where the product is in bulk form, principally steel swarf and turnings, which fall under the schedule FERROUS METAL BORINGS, SHAVINGS, TURNINGS or CUTTINGS (UN 2793). That schedule is classified Class 4.2, Group B, for its self-heating profile and pyrophoric risk.

The commercial structure of steel trade also distinguishes it from bulk commodities. Steel parcels are typically a mix of grades and dimensions for one end-customer, with mill certificates per parcel and per coil, and the receiver inspects each unit on discharge. This pushes steel fixtures toward Handysize and Supramax tonnage with experienced crews on the lashing side, and toward owners who carry P and I cover specifically tuned to steel rust claims. Steel parcels at the larger end (50,000 tonnes plus on a single bill of lading) border project-cargo territory and may be more naturally fixed as project cargo with a tween-decker or heavy-lift partner rather than as a conventional bulk fixture.

Steel cargo properties

Property	Value	Unit / Reference
Material density	7.85	t/m3 (steel as material; loaded SF depends on packing)
Coil outer diameter	1.0 to 2.0	m (typical hot-rolled coil)
Coil unit weight	5 to 30	t per coil (mill specification)
Plate thickness range	3 to 100 mm; sheet weight per unit highly variable	Mill certificate per parcel
Billet length and weight	6 to 12 m; 1 to 3 t per billet	Mill certificate per parcel
Rebar bundle weight	1 to 5 t per bundle	Mill certificate per parcel
Stowage factor (coils)	0.5 to 0.9	m3/t (varies with coil size and stow pattern)
Stowage factor (billets and rebar)	0.3 to 0.6	m3/t
Stowage factor (ferrous turnings bulk)	0.4 to 0.6	m3/t (IMSBC Code 2024)
IMSBC schedule (where applicable)	FERROUS METAL BORINGS, SHAVINGS, TURNINGS or CUTTINGS, UN 2793	Class 4.2, Group B, self-heating (IMSBC Code 2024)
Primary regulatory reference	IMO CSS Code (Code of Safe Practice for Cargo Stowage and Securing)	IMO Resolution A.714(17) and amendments
Securing requirements	Per CSS Code Annex 13; lashings sized to vessel acceleration profile	Cargo Securing Manual for the vessel
Rust claim category	Atmospheric, sea water, sweat	P and I club steel cargo guidance

Vessel typing and parcel sizes

Steel is a Handysize, Handymax, Supramax and occasional Panamax cargo. Tween-deck tonnage and fitted geared bulk carriers are preferred for coil and plate parcels because the lashing geometry needs a deck or a flat tank top with adequate ring or eye-plate provision. Capesize is structurally absent. Heavy-lift and project-cargo tonnage takes over above Panamax parcel sizes.

The practical typing decision for a steel fixture turns on three questions. First, does the vessel have a fitted Cargo Securing Manual with steel coil stowage drawings? Second, are the ship’s holds equipped with eye plates or ring bolts sized to the lashing requirements? Third, does the receiver port have shore cranage with steel coil spreaders, or must the vessel discharge with ship’s gear and clamps? Geared Supramax tonnage with tween-deck provision is the segment-by-segment best match for most steel parcels. Where the parcel is uniform billets or rebar, plain geared Supramax or Panamax is adequate. See vessel size comparison for the dimensional ranges and voyage charter for how parcel structure flows into freight.

How steel ships in practice

Loading is by shore crane or ship’s crane with specialist equipment. Coils are lifted with coil spreaders or C-hooks; plates with plate clamps or spreader beams; billets and rebar with chain slings or magnets. Hot-rolled coils are typically stowed eye-to-the-side in the hold on hardwood dunnage with timber wedges to chock the lower tier, and a second tier laid in the saddles between the lower coils. The geometry of the stow and the lashing schedule must match the drawings in the ship’s Cargo Securing Manual or be specifically approved by the master against the CSS Code Annex 13 calculation method.

Lashing and securing is the highest-leverage operational step on a steel fixture. The CSS Code requires that lashings withstand the calculated acceleration loads for the worst expected sea state on the voyage, and that the total securing arrangement provides safety against tipping and sliding for both individual units and the stack. Failure to lash adequately is the single most common cause of steel cargo damage at sea, and it is a contractual issue as well as a safety one: any lashing failure that causes cargo shift will void parts of the P and I club’s cover and shift loss exposure to the owner. Most steel fixtures require the loadmaster or an independent surveyor to sign off the lashing arrangement before notice of readiness is tendered at the load port.

Voyage care for steel is about controlling moisture. Sweat (condensation on the underside of hatch covers or the hold sides as warm humid air meets cold steel) is the primary cause of rust claims at delivery. The control is ventilation discipline: holds are ventilated when the dew point of the outside air is lower than the dew point of the cargo air, and sealed when the reverse is true. Crew error on ventilation timing is a recurring claim driver. Discharge by shore crane with coil spreader at receiver ports runs at 2,500 to 5,000 tonnes per weather working day for coils, and faster for billet and rebar parcels that can be lifted in larger units. See loading and discharge rate and demurrage for how these rates flow through to fixture economics.

Major trade routes

Steel trade lanes are anchored by the producer surplus regions of China, Russia, Korea, Turkey and the EU, feeding consumer markets in West Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and South-East Asia. The dominant lanes for the broker desk are:

• China to West Africa and the Middle East. The largest steel export corridor by volume in the 2020s. Chinese mills export hot-rolled coil, rebar, billet and structural steel to construction and industrial markets across West Africa (Lagos, Tema, Dakar) and the Middle East (Jebel Ali, Dammam, Sohar). Supramax and Handysize tonnage on twenty to thirty day round trips.

• China to Latin America. Long-haul coil and plate to Brazilian, Mexican and Chilean industrial buyers. Panamax and Supramax tonnage; voyage lengths of forty to fifty days one way.

• Russia to Asia. Russian Far East and Black Sea mills export billet, slab and rebar to Asia, with the Black Sea route running via Suez to South-East Asia. Trade volumes and routing have shifted materially since 2022 due to sanctions reconfiguration; verify current lane status against World Steel Association and trade-press reporting before fixture pitches.

• Turkey to Mediterranean, Europe and the Middle East. Turkish electric-arc-furnace mills (Iskenderun, Aliaga, Karabuk and the Marmara cluster) export rebar, structural steel and coil into Mediterranean Europe, Egypt, the Levant and the Gulf. Mostly Handysize and Supramax on short to medium voyages.

• Korea to Asia and the Middle East. POSCO and Hyundai Steel ship high-grade hot-rolled and cold-rolled coil to Asian and Middle Eastern industrial customers on Handysize and Supramax tonnage. The receiver-side quality requirement is high and the fixture risk profile leans heavily on lashing and sweat-management discipline.

Trade-volume reference points are the World Steel Association annual statistical yearbook, mill-level export reports from the major producers, and segment trade press. Cross-check current lane direction against the routes and markets view before committing to numbers in a pitch.

Steel vs scrap-metal

Brokers occasionally need to disambiguate finished steel from scrap-metal at the cargo order stage. They share a metallic profile and the same producer-receiver geography in some lanes, but the fixture mechanics are different.

The selection guidance is straightforward. Mixed steel product parcels with mill certificates per unit fix as steel cargo on tween-deck or fitted Supramax tonnage. Homogeneous scrap parcels at densities in the 0.7 to 1.5 m3/t band fix as bulk cargo on conventional geared bulk carriers. The cross-link target scrap-metal carries the detail on scrap-side fixture mechanics. Borderline parcels, particularly bundled rebar or wire-rod bales that look like break-bulk but ship like bulk, should be examined unit by unit against the CSS Code Annex 13 calculation before the fixture is tendered.

Reference example

01 Fixture Example

Supramax hot-rolled coils, China to West Africa

Cargo

35,000 mt hot-rolled steel coils, mixed grades, mill-bundled

Lane

Tianjin or Lianyungang range to Lagos and Tema range

Vessel

Geared Supramax, fitted Cargo Securing Manual, 5x30 tonne cranes

Coil size

OD 1.5 to 1.8 m, unit weight 12 to 22 t

Laycan

10 day window

Loading rate

3,500 mt per weather working day SHEX

Discharge rate

3,000 mt per weather working day SHEX

Key clauses

GENCON 2022 amended, lashing approved by independent surveyor at load, CSS Code Annex 13 calc on file, demurrage USD 16,000 per day pro rata, freight prepaid

The lane runs around 11,000 nautical miles via the Cape of Good Hope. Suez routing shaves around 2,500 miles where transit risk and canal economics permit it; broker desks should price both options against current Baltic Exchange tonnage signals and the receiver’s preference on transit time.

The lashing-approved-at-load clause is the critical operational gate. The independent surveyor checks coil stowage against the ship’s Cargo Securing Manual, verifies dunnage placement, and signs the lashing schedule against the CSS Code Annex 13 calculation. Any deviation, particularly on tier-two coil chocking or on lashing pre-tension, will trigger a remediation hold at the load port at owner’s time.

Discharge at West African ports runs slower than load because the receiver-side coil spreader and the truck cycle limit grab-equivalent throughput. Freight prepaid is the lane convention given counterparty risk; the bill of lading is claused accordingly and the owner’s P and I club has approved the wording.

The fixture is anonymised. The values reflect typical market structure for the lane.

Image Placeholder Geared Supramax bulk carrier loading hot-rolled steel coils at a Chinese export terminal

Common loading and discharge issues

• Lashing failure in heavy weather. The most material claim driver on steel fixtures. Cargo shift caused by inadequate lashing voids parts of the P and I cover and exposes the owner to the cargo claim. The control is to follow the Cargo Securing Manual exactly and to require an independent surveyor’s sign-off on the lashing schedule before tender of notice of readiness.
• Rust claim disputes (atmospheric, sea water, sweat). Receivers reject coils and plates for surface rust at delivery. The cause is investigated forensically: atmospheric rust is the producer’s exposure, sea water is the owner’s, sweat is the owner’s exposure if ventilation discipline was wrong and otherwise nobody’s. Mate’s receipts at load should reflect the surface condition honestly to preserve the owner’s defence at discharge.
• Coil tare weight disputes. Mill certificates show a coil weight that the receiver weighs independently on discharge. Small variances (under one per cent) are routine; larger variances trigger an investigation that can hold up discharge and put the laytime clock at risk. The recap should specify the agreed tolerance band.
• Dunnage and chocking failures during loading. Hardwood dunnage and timber wedges must be specified to the right dimensions and placed to the Cargo Securing Manual drawing. Cheap dunnage that splits under coil weight compromises the entire lashing scheme. The loadmaster’s sign-off on dunnage placement is non-trivial.
• Mixed-grade parcels with separation requirements. Coil parcels with multiple steel grades require physical separation in the stow to preserve mill certificate traceability. Failure to separate can cause an entire parcel to be downgraded by the receiver, which becomes a freight invoice dispute.
• Sweat damage from ventilation error. The ventilation rule (ventilate when outside dew point is lower than cargo dew point, seal when higher) is one of the most counter-intuitive controls in dry shipping. Crew error here is the most common cause of marginal rust claims that are technically the owner’s exposure under Hague-Visby.

Scope and what this page does not cover

This page covers conventional bulk and break-bulk carriage of finished steel products on dry bulk and tween-deck tonnage in the dry bulk freight market. It does not cover ferrous turnings, swarf, or other Group B bulk steel by-products in operational depth, container-borne steel parcels, heavy-lift project shipments above Panamax parcel sizes, or the underlying steel metallurgy. For commercial structuring of a steel programme, work with the ship-brokering team against current World Steel Association data and the ship’s Cargo Securing Manual, and verify all CSS Code calculations against the live regulation at the load port.