Light cargo. Goods which fill the ship’s cargo space cubically but do not bring it “down to its marks”, are called “light cargo”, in contrast with heavy cargo, which brings the ship down to its marks but does not completely fill the space available for cargo.
The possibility of loading the ship “full and down” depends upon the nature of the cargo available, in other words how far it is possible to select cargo so as to obtain the maximum number of freight tons. Although the dividing line between light and heavy cargo varies with the type of ship, the number of tweendecks it may have (if it is a general cargo, multipurpose ship), the deadweight available for cargo and bale capacity, it is safe to say that goods having an average “Stowage factor” less than 50 cubic feet to the tonne, can be considered as heavy cargo, whilst goods averaging more than 50 cubic feet to the tonne can be classified as light cargo.
