What is Stowage factor and Broken Stowage ?

Stowage factor :

• This is a NET amount of space a unit weight of a cargo will occupy.
• Stowage factor varies with :
  1. Different shapes & sizes of commodities
  2. to some extent, with the shape of compartment
  3. other factors such as irregular sizes of packings, slack or tightly filled bags
  4. effectiveness of cargo stow
• Stowage factor is expressed in :
  1.  Cubic Metres per Tonnes (m3/tonne) or
  2. Cubic Feet per Ton  (ft3/ton)

Broken stowage :

• This is the space “LOST” in a compartment due to varying shapes and sizes of the cargo & packages which do not permit a compact or uniform stow.
• Expressed in term of percentage (%)
• General Cargo : Large broken stowage

           Bulk cargo : Small broken stowage