Transshipment,trans-shipment ortranshipment is theshipment ofgoods orcontainers to an intermediate destination, then to another destination.
One possible reason for transshipment is to change themeans of transport during the journey (e.g., fromship transport toroad transport), known astransloading. Another reason is to combine small shipments into a large shipment (consolidation), or the opposite: dividing a large shipment into smaller shipments (deconsolidation). Transshipment usually takes place intransport hubs. Much international transshipment also takes place in designatedcustoms areas, thus avoiding the need for customs checks or duties, otherwise a major hindrance for efficient transport.
An item handled (from the shipper's point of view) as a single movement is not generally considered transshipped, even if it changes from one mode of transport to another at several points. Previously, it was often not distinguished fromtransloading, since each leg of such a trip was typically handled by a different shipper.
Transshipment is normally fully legal and an everyday part of world trade. However, it can also be a method used to disguise intent, as is the case withillegal logging,smuggling, orgrey-market goods.
The transshipment ofcontainers at a container port or terminal can be defined as the number (or proportion) of containers, possibly expressed inTEU, of the total container flow that is handled at the port or terminal and, after temporary storage in the stack, transferred to another ship to reach their destinations. The exact definition of transshipment may differ between ports, mostly depending on the inclusion of inland water transport (barges operating on canals and rivers to thehinterland). The definition of transshipment may:
In both cases, a single, unique, transshipped container is counted twice in the port performance, since it is handled twice by the watersidecontainer cranes (separate unloading from arriving ship A, waiting in the stack, and loading onto departing ship B).
Transshipment at sea is done by transferring goods from one ship to another.
In global fisheries transshipment is used to transfer catch to refrigerated cargo vessels that also supply fishing vessels with fuel, food, equipment and personnel allowing them to stay at sea for months or even years.[2] This guarantees that fish quickly find their way to the market without a decrease in quality.
Since transshipment at sea encounters often happen on the high seas, in regions with poor regulation and oversight, they are also used to disguise criminal activities such asillegal, unreported and unregulated fishing,forced labor,human trafficking anddrug smuggling.[3] Several states andregional fishery management organizations have therefore prohibited the practice for certain vessel types or issued a complete ban within their zone of jurisdiction.[4]
Transshipment at sea also occurs in the export of bulk products. Choosing to transship reduces capital costs for port developers and can overcome problems arising from limited access to deep water. Loading barges typically specify 4 to 7 meters of draft. Since at least 2011, transshipment has been used in northern Australia in the export of bulk minerals includingbauxite,iron ore andpotash from mines inQueensland,Western Australia and theNorthern Territory.[5]
At abreak-of-gauge, cargo is transloaded fromboxcars orcovered goods wagons on one track to wagons on another track of a differentrail gauge, or elsecontainers are transloaded fromflatcars on one track to flatcars on another track of a different gauge.