Cellular vessel

A cellular vessel is a container ship specially designed for the efficient storage of freight containers one on top of other with vertical bracings at the four corners. The majority of vessels operated by maritime carriers are fully cellular ships.

Before 1991 most containerships where constructed with hatch covers. Because of the longer load and unloading times of these types of ships the cellular type was invented. As loading and unloading occurs only vertically and the containers have standardized dimensions (TEU), large quantities of cargo can quickly be loaded using gantry cranes.