Trailer Ship

a dry-cargo ship for transporting cargoes in trailers. As a rule, the trailers are loaded and unloaded from the stern of the ship with the aid of tractor trucks and are moved from the main deck to the hold by means of elevators and various kinds of ramps. A trailer ship usually has one deck; trailer ships with two or three decks are less common. The machinery space is located amidships or at the stern. The freight-carrying capacity of trailer ships ranges from 500 to 6,000 tons with respect to weight and can be as high as 18,000 cu m with respect to volume. The power of the main engines is 1–11 megawatts; the maximum speed is 35 km per hour.