Editing Transshipment

{{short description|Shipment of goods or containers to an intermediate destination}}
{{for|Transshipment in information security|Transshipment (information security)}}
{{Wiktionary|transshipment}}
[[File:Singapore Port viewed from The Pinnacle@Duxton 11.jpg|thumb|[[Port of Singapore]] is currently the largest transshipment port in the world. <ref>{{Cite web |last=Botas |first=Zoltan |date=2023-09-19 |title=Singapore Port: The World's Largest Transshipment Hub |url=https://silver-runner.com/singapore-port-the-world-s-largest-transshipment-hub/#:~:text=Singapore%20is%20a%20small%20island,in%20the%20region%20and%20beyond. |access-date=2025-03-02 |website=Silver Runner |language=en-US}}</ref>]]
'''Transshipment''', '''trans-shipment''' or '''transhipment''' is the [[shipment]] of [[Cargo|goods]] or [[Intermodal container|containers]] to an intermediate destination, then to another destination.

One possible reason for transshipment is to change the [[means of transport]] during the journey (e.g., from [[ship transport]] to [[road transport]]), known as [[transloading]]. 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 in [[transport hub]]s. Much international transshipment also takes place in designated [[customs area]]s, 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 from [[transloading]], 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 with [[illegal logging]], [[smuggling]], or [[grey market|grey-market]] goods.

==Transshipment at container ports or terminals==
[[File: Australian National Railways 5-pack freight cars and container loader, Islington freight terminal, 1985.jpg |thumb|250px|Mechanisation associated with standardised [[Intermodal container|containers]] revolutionised rail, road and sea [[freight transport|freight handling.]]]]
[[File:Transhipment container port.png|400px|thumb|Scheme describing the possible container flows at a container port/terminal]]
The transshipment of [[Intermodal container|containers]] at a container port or terminal can be defined as the number (or proportion) of containers, possibly expressed in [[Twenty-foot equivalent unit|TEU]], 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 the [[hinterland]]). The definition of transshipment may:
*include only [[Seaborne Freight|seaborne]] transfers (a change to another international deep-sea [[container ship]]); or
*include both seaborne and inland waterway ship transfers (sometimes called ''water-to-water'' transshipment). Most coastal container ports in [[China]] have a large proportion of riverside "transshipment" to the hinterland.
In both cases, a single, unique, transshipped container is counted twice in the port performance, since it is handled twice by the waterside [[container crane]]s (separate unloading from arriving ship A, waiting in the stack, and loading onto departing ship B).

== Transshipment at sea ==
{{Main|Transshipment at sea}}
Transshipment at sea is done by transferring goods from one ship to another. 

=== Fisheries ===
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.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ewell|first=Christopher|last2=Cullis-Suzuki|first2=Sarika|last3=Ediger|first3=Mikaela|last4=Hocevar|first4=John|last5=Miller|first5=Dana|last6=Jacquet|first6=Jennifer|date=2017|title=Potential ecological and social benefits of a moratorium on transshipment on the high seas|journal=Marine Policy|language=en|volume=81|page=293|doi=10.1016/j.marpol.2017.04.004|doi-access=free}}</ref> 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 as [[illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing]], [[Unfree labour|forced labor]], [[human trafficking]] and [[Illegal drug trade|drug smuggling]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Miller|first=Nathan A.|last2=Roan|first2=Aaron|last3=Hochberg|first3=Timothy|last4=Amos|first4=John|last5=Kroodsma|first5=David A.|date=2018-07-23|title=Identifying Global Patterns of Transshipment Behavior|journal=Frontiers in Marine Science|volume=5|page=1|doi=10.3389/fmars.2018.00240|issn=2296-7745|doi-access=free}}</ref> Several states and [[Regional fisheries management organisation|regional fishery management organizations]] have therefore prohibited the practice for certain vessel types or issued a complete ban within their zone of jurisdiction.<ref>Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2016) [http://www.fao.org/3/CA0464EN/ca0464en.pdf Global Study on Transshipment: Regulations, practices, monitoring and control]. 11, 15. Retrieved 29 May 2019.</ref>

=== Bulk products ===
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 including [[bauxite]], [[iron ore]] and [[potash]] from mines in [[Queensland]], [[Western Australia]] and the [[Northern Territory]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Transhipment Services Australia|url=https://www.transhipmentservices.com.au/projects/|access-date=2020-12-09|website=TSA|language=en-au}}</ref>

== Transshipment at a break-of-gauge ==
At a [[break-of-gauge]], cargo is transloaded from [[boxcar]]s or [[covered goods wagon]]s on one track to wagons on another track of a different [[rail gauge]], or else [[intermodal container|containers]] are transloaded from [[flatcar]]s on one track to flatcars on another track of a different gauge.

==See also==
* [[Cross-docking]]
* [[Customs area]]
* {{lang|fr|[[Entrepôt]]}}
* [[List of free ports]]
* [[Milk run]]
* [[Transshipment problem]]

== Notes ==
<references />

==References==
* E. Rojas. "MCS Observers on board at-sea Transshipment Vessels." In: ''APO Mail Buoy'' Vol. 10 (3). pp.&nbsp;8–9. 2007.

[[Category:Freight transport]]