Shipping Jargon Buster

Do you find shipping industry babble baffling? Our jargon buster reveals what some of the more peculiar seafarers’ sayings actually mean.

“All Fast”

No, this doesn’t mean let’s all speed up. “All fast” indicates that a vessel’s mooring operations are complete and it has been safely moored to berth.

“Beaufort Scale”

It sounds nautically old-fashioned doesn’t it? Royal Navy Officer Francis Beaufort devised the “Beaufort Scale” in the early nineteenth century, whilst serving on HMS Woolwich. It is a system to express wind speed: 0 means “calm”, 6 means “strong breeze” and 12 means “hurricane force”. At Sea Tankers, we prefer the wind to be around 0-2.

“BoL”

The “Bill of Lading” is like a receipt issued by the carrier to the shipper when goods are received on board. Without it, there is no evidence that the goods were ever shipped and they could, in fact, be anywhere.

“Bulbous Bow”

This is a funny-looking lump sticking out from the bow (or front) of a ship, just below the waterline. A “bulbous bow” changes the way water flows around the hull, reduces drag and increases speed, range, stability and fuel efficiency.

“Chock-a-Block”

This expression – meaning something is absolutely full and is sometimes shortened to “chock-full” or “chocka” – was originally a nautical term. The “blocks” were the pulley blocks, used for hoisting cargo on board. When the load had been hauled as far as it would go, the blocks touched, couldn’t move any further and were said to be “chock-a-block”.

“Disbursement”

A sum of money paid out by a ship's agent, on behalf of the ship-owner, for port, cargo and ship charges.

“Laytime”

This sounds suspiciously like the number of hours a Captain is given to lie down and rest between sailings … but that’s not it. “Laytime” means the number of hours given by the ship-owner to the voyage charterer to carry out cargo loading and/or discharging operations.

“NAABSA”

This acronym means we’ve run out of water. It stands for “Not Always Afloat But Safely Aground”. A vessel requires an extra strengthened bottom / keel in order to withstand a port where it is impossible for the vessel to stay afloat, for example where there is a low tide and the seabed consists of soft mud and the water has totally dried out.

“Nautical Mile”

For reasons best known to themselves, seafarers developed their own way of measuring a distance at sea. A “nautical mile” is 1,852 metres, whereas a mile for landlubbers is only1,609 metres.

“Port & Starboard”

These nautical terms are often confused but simply mean the left and right sides respectively of a ship or aircraft, when facing the bow (the front); at night, the port side is lit with a red light and the starboard side with a green light. Some people believe that the tradition of always passing the port to the left – clockwise around the dinner table – is because at sea “port” means “left”.

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