English for your ship type
A tanker, a bulk carrier and a supply vessel are three different languages. Ullage and inert gas; TML and hold inspection; DP alert and the 500-metre zone. Recruitment tests and interviews for a specific position ask for that specific vocabulary. Here it is, ship by ship: the words, the sentences you will hear, the safety that matters on that deck, what the tests ask, and a quiz.
Oil and chemical tankers
Tankers carry liquid cargo in bulk: crude oil, products such as diesel and jet fuel, or chemicals. The language of a tanker is the language of tanks, pumps, valves and vapour: ullage, inert gas, the ship-shore checklist, closed loading.
28 terms · 10 sentences · 7 safety points · 10-question quiz
Gas carriers (LNG and LPG)
Gas carriers carry liquefied gases: LPG such as propane and butane, fully refrigerated or under pressure, and LNG at about minus 162 degrees C. On a gas ship everything is about temperature, pressure and boil-off.
26 terms · 10 sentences · 7 safety points · 10-question quiz
Container ships
Container ships carry standard boxes stacked in cells and on deck, on fixed schedules between terminals. Their English is the English of the bay plan, the lashing, the reefer round and the port that never sleeps.
26 terms · 10 sentences · 7 safety points · 10-question quiz
Bulk carriers
Bulk carriers carry loose cargo poured into big holds: iron ore, coal, grain, bauxite, fertiliser. Their English is about holds and hatches, loading sequences, moisture and the stresses on a long hull.
26 terms · 10 sentences · 7 safety points · 10-question quiz
Ro-ro and passenger ships
Ferries, ro-pax ships and cruise ships carry vehicles that drive on and off and people who need to be counted, informed and, in the worst case, evacuated. Their English is the English of the vehicle deck, the announcement and the muster.
26 terms · 10 sentences · 7 safety points · 10-question quiz
Offshore vessels (PSV, AHTS, DP)
Offshore vessels serve oil, gas and wind installations: platform supply vessels carry cargo and bulk to rigs, anchor handlers move rigs, and dynamic positioning keeps them in place without an anchor. Their English is the English of the 500-metre zone, the crane and the DP alert.
26 terms · 10 sentences · 7 safety points · 10-question quiz
General cargo and heavy-lift ships
General cargo and multipurpose ships carry anything that fits in a hold or on a hatch: steel, bags, project cargo, machinery, timber, containers. Their English is the English of cranes, slings, dunnage and lashings, and of the mate's receipt.
26 terms · 10 sentences · 7 safety points · 10-question quiz
How each page is built
- Words you will use every day. Plain-English definitions of the terms that only that ship type uses, in the order you meet them: cargo, equipment, documents, hazards.
- Ten things you will hear. Real-shaped sentences from the deck, the cargo control room and the radio, with a note on who says them and when.
- Safety on that ship. The accidents that shaped the rules and the habits that prevent them.
- What recruitment tests ask. The five topics a knowledge test for that position comes back to. The quiz questions also appear in the knowledge test under "Vessel types and their cargoes".
- Sources. Every page names the convention or code behind it. Nothing is copied from any commercial test.
Then practise the English itself
The words are half the job; hearing them in a radio call is the other half. The listening trainer has bunkering, cargo, pilot and VTS calls in seven accents, the SMCP trainer has every standard phrase with audio, and the full practice test puts it all under the clock.