Dry bulk shipping moves unpacked, unitised cargo such as grain, coal, iron ore, bauxite and fertiliser loose in the holds of a bulk carrier. Unlike a container booking, you normally do not buy a box or a slot: you fix a parcel of cargo (often thousands of tonnes) on a ship, priced per tonne under a charter party, or you charter the whole vessel for a voyage or a period. The ship class (Handysize, Supramax, Panamax, Capesize) is chosen to fit the cargo size and the ports at each end, and the commercial risk sits in terms such as laytime, demurrage and cargo claims. If you think in containers, the biggest shifts are that freight is quoted in dollars per tonne, the vessel is a named ship with a named owner, and the contract is a charter party rather than a carrier's standard bill of lading terms.
What counts as dry bulk cargo?
Dry bulk is solid cargo carried loose, without packaging or containers. It is usually split into two groups:
- Major bulks: iron ore, coal (thermal and coking) and grain (wheat, maize, soybeans and similar). These move in large, regular volumes on a handful of long-haul trades.
- Minor bulks: everything else that ships loose or semi-loose, including bauxite and alumina, fertiliser, cement and clinker, sugar, salt, scrap, and steel and forest products such as coils, billets, logs and pulp. These are typically carried on smaller ships, and some of them overlap with breakbulk and project cargo.
Liquid cargoes (crude oil, chemicals, edible oils) go in tankers and are a different business. If you need to move bulk liquids in smaller volumes, see the guide to tank containers and flexitanks.
Handysize, Supramax, Panamax and Capesize: the ship classes
Bulk carriers are described by deadweight tonnage (dwt), the total weight a ship can carry at her marks, including cargo, fuel and stores. Two points are worth knowing before you read any size table. First, the class names are commercial shorthand used by brokers and charterers, not legal definitions, and different sources draw the boundaries differently. Second, only Panamax is tied to a physical limit: the name comes from the largest ships that could use the older Panama Canal locks.
The Baltic Exchange, the London shipping market body, describes the classes in its guide to modern shipping. The bands below are its indicative figures as we read them in October 2026; the Exchange itself notes that its edges vary slightly between its own documents, and other published tables (for example from port economics references and UNCTAD-based academic tables) put the boundaries a few thousand tonnes either way.
| Class | Indicative size (dwt) | Typical cargoes |
|---|---|---|
| Handysize | about 20,000 to 35,000 | Steel products, scrap, sugar, grain, forest products; often geared, so can work ports without shore cranes |
| Handymax / Supramax / Ultramax | about 36,000 to 66,000 | Grain, fertiliser, cement, steel, minor bulks; typically geared with their own cranes |
| Panamax / Kamsarmax | about 65,000 to 82,500 | Grain, coal, fertiliser, steel slabs, bauxite; usually gearless |
| Capesize | about 120,000 to 200,000 | Iron ore, coal, bauxite, sometimes grain; need deep-water ports with shore equipment |
| Very large ore carriers | about 220,000 to 400,000 | Iron ore on dedicated long-haul routes |
A common mix-up: container ship classes use the same words but mean something different. A container Panamax is measured in TEU, and the container sector now has larger classes beyond the old canal limits, as explained in the guide to Panamax, Neopanamax and ULCV container ships. A dry bulk Panamax and a container Panamax are different ships.
Why does geared versus gearless matter? A geared ship carries cranes, so it can load and discharge at ports with limited infrastructure. A gearless Panamax or Capesize relies on shore cranes, conveyors or loaders, which usually means a larger, purpose-built terminal. Many minor-bulk and smaller-port trades are therefore Handysize or Supramax by necessity, not by price.
How is dry bulk freight priced?
There are two basic ways to hire a bulk carrier, and the difference changes who carries which costs.
- Voyage charter: the shipowner carries a stated quantity of cargo from a load port to a discharge port, and the rate is normally quoted in US dollars per tonne. The owner typically pays for fuel and the ship's running costs, and port costs are set by the contract. A common arrangement is "free in and out" (FIO), where the charterer arranges and pays for loading and discharging.
- Time charter: the charterer hires the vessel for a period or a trip at a daily hire rate in dollars per day, then directs where she goes. In a time charter the charterer usually pays for fuel and port charges, and the owner remains responsible for the crew and maintenance.
Beyond these two, a contract of affreightment covers a series of shipments over a period (for example monthly parcels of fertiliser), and a part cargo or parcel lets a shipper with less than a full ship share a vessel with other cargo. For a trader used to container rates, the practical points are that the quote depends on the cargo's stowage factor and loading and discharge rates, the ports' draft limits, and the ship size, and that a minimum or "lumpsum" for a smaller parcel may apply. The logic of pricing by weight or volume, whichever is greater, is covered in the guide to revenue tons and stowage factor.
The contract itself is a charter party. Standard forms published by BIMCO, such as GENCON for voyage charters, are commonly used as the starting point and then amended, but you should confirm which form your own fixture uses and which clauses were changed.
What is the Baltic Dry Index?
The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) is a daily index published by the Baltic Exchange. As the Exchange describes it, it is a composite of the Capesize (40 percent), Panamax (30 percent) and Supramax (30 percent) time charter averages. Since 1 March 2018 the Handysize average is no longer part of it; before that date the index was an equal-weighted average of four size classes. The Baltic Exchange publishes its data on working days.
Two corrections to how the index is often described:
- It is a measure of ship hire, not a cargo price. Its building blocks are time charter averages in dollars per day, not per-tonne voyage rates, and not the price of iron ore or grain.
- It is not a rate for your shipment. It describes the market for three ship sizes on benchmark routes, so a Handysize parcel of fertiliser out of a small port can move differently from the headline number. The Exchange publishes route-level and voyage-based assessments for that purpose.
Use the BDI as a market temperature check, not a quote. Ask your broker or forwarder for a firm offer on the actual ports, cargo and laycan (the date window in which the ship must arrive).
Laytime, demurrage and despatch
In a voyage charter the charterer is allowed a set period, called laytime, to load and discharge. If the ship is kept longer than that, the charterer pays demurrage, a daily sum agreed in the charter party. If the work finishes early, the owner may pay despatch, usually at half the demurrage rate or as the contract states. The clock is governed by conditions such as when a Notice of Readiness is tendered and accepted, whether weather working days or "running" days apply, and which exceptions (holidays, weather, strikes) the contract allows.
These are not container-style detention charges. They are negotiated sums under a contract and can reach large amounts for a big ship over several days. The detail is covered in the guide to charter party laytime, demurrage and despatch. Before signing, read the laytime clause, the notice of readiness clause and any cap or time bar for presenting demurrage claims.
Cargo care: hold cleanliness, fumigation and claims
Loose cargo is exposed to its ship in a way a sealed container is not, so the hold is part of the risk.
- Hold cleanliness: the owner must present holds that are clean, dry and fit for the cargo. Grain and food-grade cargoes are inspected before loading, and a failed inspection can delay the ship or cause her to be rejected for that cargo. A prior cargo of coal or fertiliser can contaminate the next one.
- Fumigation: grain and some other agricultural cargoes may be fumigated in the hold, under rules set by the importing country and the safety regime for fumigants. The container equivalent is covered in the guide to container fumigation certificates and fumigated unit rules; hold fumigation follows its own procedures and certificates.
- Cargo-specific safety rules: solid bulk cargoes are carried under the IMO's International Maritime Solid Bulk Cargoes (IMSBC) Code, which classes cargoes with hazards such as liquefaction (some ores, including certain bauxite and nickel ore cargoes, can become fluid in the hold if moisture is too high). Grain loading is subject to the IMO's International Grain Code on stability. Always ask the cargo's shipper for the moisture and test data the code requires.
- Cargo claims: typical disputes are shortage (the discharge weight is lower than the load weight), contamination, and wet damage. Claims are usually made against the owner under the bill of lading and the charter party, so time limits matter. Under the Hague and Hague-Visby Rules, which many bills of lading incorporate, the usual limit to sue is one year from delivery, but check the clause in your own documents.
Documents for a dry bulk shipment
| Document | What it does |
|---|---|
| Charter party | The contract between owner and charterer, covering rate, laytime, ports, cargo and law |
| Mate's receipt | The ship's acknowledgement of the quantity and condition of cargo loaded; the bill of lading is typically issued from it |
| Bill of lading under a charter party | Receipt, evidence of the contract and document of title; a form such as CONGENBILL is designed to be used with a charter party. See bill of lading types |
| Draft survey report | A surveyor reads the ship's draught before and after loading and calculates the cargo weight from displacement; often used to settle disputes between load and discharge figures |
| Certificate of origin and quality, weight and phytosanitary certificates | Requested by the sale contract, letter of credit or the importing country; which ones apply depends on the cargo and destination |
| Fumigation certificate | Where the cargo or importing country requires it |
One thing surprises container shippers: the weight on the bill of lading is often the shipper's stated figure, "said to weigh", and the ship's draft survey may disagree by a fraction of a percent. Agree in the sale contract which figure (load port or discharge port, and by which method) counts for payment.
Bulk, container or breakbulk: which fits?
- Bulk carrier: best for large, homogeneous cargo (typically thousands of tonnes) where the cargo can tolerate loose carriage. As an illustration, a 30,000-tonne parcel would need more than 1,000 containers at around 26 tonnes each, which is rarely economic.
- Container: best for smaller lots, packaged goods and cargo that needs protection, tracking or door-to-door service. Some dry bulk (such as grain or minerals) moves in containers with liners, which suits a few hundred tonnes better than a ship does.
- Breakbulk or project cargo: for pieces that are heavy, long or oddly shaped, and for steel and forest products that do not suit either bulk holds or boxes. See breakbulk and project cargo.
What to do next
- Write down the cargo's quantity, tolerance (for example plus or minus 10 percent), stowage factor, moisture and special requirements before you ask for a rate.
- Check the load and discharge ports for draft, cranes or loaders, and loading rates, since they decide the ship class and the laytime you can realistically accept.
- Ask for a firm offer that states the form of charter party, freight terms (FIO or otherwise), laytime, demurrage and despatch rates and the notice of readiness rules.
- Agree in the sale contract which documents and which weight figure (shore scale or draft survey) settle payment and claims.
More than 29,300 logistics companies are searchable by country and service in the CargoLinked directory, which you can use to find brokers and forwarders who handle bulk and project cargo in your trade lane. The public requests board lists freight that shippers have posted for forwarders to quote on directly.
This guide is general information, not legal, financial, insurance or chartering advice. Ship size bands are indicative commercial terms as read in October 2026, and rules, forms and contract terms change. Confirm the details of any fixture with a licensed shipbroker, a maritime lawyer and the relevant authority.
