Container Ships

• As the name suggests, a vessel structured specifically to hold huge quantities of cargo compacted in different types of containers is referred to as a container vessel (ship).

Bulk Carrier

• Bulk carriers are a type of ship which transports cargoes (generally dry cargo) in bulk quantities. The cargo transported in such ships is loose cargo i.e., without any specific packaging to it and generally contains items like food grains, ores and coals and even cement.

Tanker Ships

• Tanker ships are specialised vessels for carrying a large amount of liquid cargo. Tankers are further sub-divided into different types based on the cargo they carry.

Roll-on Roll-Off Ships

• Ro-Ro is an acronym for Roll-on/roll-off. Roll-on/roll-off ships are vessels that are used to carry wheeled cargo.

Special Purpose Ships

• Speciality vessels are constructed and used for specific purposes.

Tugs 

• A tug (tugboat) is a boat or ship that manoeuvres vessels by pushing or towing them.

Tenders

• A boat or a larger ship used to service or support other boats or ships, generally by transporting people and/or supplies is called a tender vessel.

Pilot Crafts 

• Pilot crafts are used for the transportation of harbour pilots.

Cable Layers

• Cable laying vessels help in laying cables on to the seabed. 

Research Vessels 

• They are special types of vessels used for carrying out a variety of research at sea. Some of the most common types of research vessels are – seismic vessels, hydrographic vessels, oceanographic vessels, polar vessels etc.

Salvage Vessels 

• Salvage vessels are vessels engaged in salvage operation; recovery of lost property at sea.

Lightships

• A lightvessel, or lightship, is a ship which acts as a lighthouse. They are used in waters that are too deep or otherwise unsuitable for lighthouse construction.

Barge Carriers

• A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods.

Timber Carriers

• Vessels that carry timber

Livestock Carriers

• Vessels that carry livestock/animals

Ice breaker ships

• They are used for cutting ice deposits in extremely cold climate conditions to make waters navigational.
  
  

Passenger Ships

• Passenger ships, as the name suggests, are mainly used for transiting passengers.
• They are mainly classified into:

Ferries

• Vessels used for transiting passengers (and vehicles) on short-distance routes are called ferries.

Cruise Ships

• Mainly used for recreational activities, cruise ships are like luxurious floating hotels with state-of-the-art facilities.
  

Offshore Ships

• Offshore vessels mainly help in oil exploration and construction jobs at sea. Offshore vessels are of several types.

Supply Ship

• Vessels that supply to offshore rigs

Pipe Layers

• Vessels engages in laying pipes and cables.

Crane Barges or floating cranes

• A crane vessel, crane ship or floating crane is a ship with a crane specialized in lifting heavy loads.

Semi-submersible Drill Rigs

• These are Mobile Offshore Drilling Units to make stable platforms for drilling oil and gas.

Drill Ships

• A drillship is a merchant vessel designed for use in exploratory offshore drilling of new oil and gas wells or for scientific drilling purposes.

Accommodation Barges 

• Could be a stand-alone floating hotel or can include accommodation as well as space for Cargo.

Production Platforms 

• To extract and process oil and natural gas, or to temporarily store product until it can be brought to shore for refining and marketing.

Floating Storage Unit (FSU)

• Floating vessel mainly used for storage of oil and by-products.

Floating Production and Storage Unit (FPSO) 

• A floating production storage and the offloading unit is a floating vessel used by the offshore oil and gas industry for the production and processing of hydrocarbons, and for the storage of oil.

Anchor handling vessels

• These are used for offshore construction and installation operations.

Diving vessels

• Are vessels used by divers for diving in the ocean for underwater jobs.

Fishing Vessels

• Fishing vessels are mainly classified into two types – trawlers and non-trawling vessels.

Trawlers, Purse Seiners

• A fishing trawler, also known as a dragger, is a commercial fishing vessel designed to operate fishing trawls. Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively dragging or pulling a trawl through the water behind one or more trawlers. A purse seine is a large wall of netting deployed around an entire area or school of fish. The seine has floats along the top line with a lead line threaded through rings along the bottom. Once a school of fish is located, a skiff encircles the school with the net.

Factory Ships

• A factory ship, also known as a fish processing vessel, is a large ocean-going vessel with extensive on-board facilities for processing and freezing caught fish or whales.

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