Intaken measure. This expression can occur especially in charterparties for timber.
Timber cargoes are generally measured by volume because the stowage factors of many types of timber are high, especially the softwoods, and also the timber may contain considerable moisture content. These factors cause the ship’s cargo spaces to be filled before loading “down to her marks”, (that is, its deadweight tonnage capacity based on the “loadlines”.) Owing to the number of places of origin of timber, different measurement systems are in use and this can cause problems in chartering if the parties involved are not familiar with the system in use. In most cases it is probably best to leave the details of measurement to specialists.
The units of measurement are called “Standards” and there is little resemblance between the different “standards”. For example, a “Petrograd Standard” measures 165 cubic feet, whereas a “London Standard” measures 270 cubic feet. The timber measurements also vary between Europe and the United States and also between the traditional measurement system from Northern Europe and the Metric system. In the U.S. the units of measurement are “1000 Board Feet” and in the metric system the unit is the “Stere” which is 1 cubic metre. Small logs of “fir” trees, called “pit props”, are traditionally measured by the “intaken piled fathom” (“IPF”), 6 ft x 6 ft x 6 ft or 216 cubic feet.
of 165 cubic feet intaken measure on the number of pieces delivered. “Intaken measure” means that all lengths of the timber cargo (which are given different names depending on the nature of the lengths, for example, “deals”-sawn timber of at least 50 mm thickness and 230 to 250 mm width, and “battens” and “boards” which are also sawn timber of different dimensions) are considered to be of the dimensions by which they are measured according to the customs of the timber trade. For example, a “Petrograd Standard Deal” is one length of timber, of dimensions 75 mm x 280 mm x 1830 mm.
Because of the difficulties with measurement systems and the consequent problems if freight rates are based on the measurements, the shipowner may very well wish to fix the ship on a “lumpsum” freight basis for voyage charters or simply time charter the ship to charterers who are experienced in the timber trade.
