Grab discharge

Charterers of coal, ore, phosphate in bulk, wheat, bulk sugar, grains etc. which can be discharged by grabs, often stipulate that no cargo must be loaded in “deep tanks”. Deep  tanks  are generally found in older style “general cargo ships” which had cargo compartments divided into separate holds (even modern dry cargo ships’ cargo spaces are divided into “holds”) and when the ship had to carry some liquid cargo (for example, vegetable oil) as pan of its general cargo, it required steel tanks within  the cargo spaces. Such tanks were part of the structure of the ship and could be used even for dry cargo if there was no liquid cargo. Today, liquid cargoes are carried in liquid cargo bulk carriers or multipurpose ships. However, general cargo ships with deep tanks may still be found in many pans of the world. These tanks can have small openings that are not very suitable for grabs to be used, especially if the grabs are large. However, leaving the deep tanks empty may seriously interfere with the even distribution of the cargo throughout the ship. Instead of excluding the deep tanks altogether, it is often agreed as an alternative that all extra time and extra expenses resulting from the discharge of such bulk cargo from the deep tanks will be charged against shipowners. Apart from the greater risk of damage to the deep tanks by using grabs, the question of fixing. the extra time and discharging expenses is often a source of dispute.