Breakbulk

The stowage factor is calculated:

one large ton or 2240 pounds multiplied by volume in cubic feet. The result is divided by the weight of the load in pounds. The stowage factor thus determined shall be the number of cubic feet required to load one long tonne of a given load. If you are using a metric measure, the formula is to multiply 1 000 kilograms by volume in cubic metres divided by the weight of the load in kilograms. Let’s say you have a load of 15 cubic feet and 900 pounds. The calculation of the load is 2240 pounds, multiplied by 15, divided by 900. The charging factor is obtained at 37,3 cubic feet per tonne.

Here’s a table of conversion of stowage factors to other units of measure:

Cubic foot / Large ton	Cubic foot / Metric ton	Cubic meter / Metric ton	Cubic meter / Large ton	Large ton / Cubic meter	Metric ton / Cubic meter
35	34,45	0,975	0,991	1,009	1,025
40	39,37	1,115	1,133	0,883	0,898
41	40,35	1,143	1,161	0,861	0,875
42	41,34	1,171	1,189	0,841	0,854
43	42,32	1,199	1,218	0,821	0,834
44	43,31	1,226	1,246	0,803	0,815
45	44,29	1,254	1,274	0,785	0,797
46	45,27	1,282	1,303	0,768	0,780
47	46,26	1,310	1,331	0,751	0,763
48	47,24	1,338	1,359	0,736	0,748
49	48,23	1,366	1,388	0,721	0,732
50	49,21	1,393	1,416	0,706	0,718
51	50,19	1,421	1,444	0,692	0,704
52	51,18	1,449	1,472	0,679	0,690
53	52,16	1,477	1,501	0,666	0,667
54	53,15	1,505	1,529	0,654	0,664
55	54,13	1,533	1,557	0,642	0,652
56	55,12	1,561	1,586	0,631	0,641
57	56,10	1,589	1,614	0,620	0,629
58	57,08	1,616	1,642	0,609	0,619
59	58,07	1,644	1,617	0,599	0,608
60	59,05	1,672	1,699	0,589	0,598
61	60,40	1,700	1,727	0,579	0,588
62	61,02	1,728	1,756	0,570	0,579
63	62,01	1,756	1,784	0,561	0,570
64	62,99	1,784	1,812	0,552	0,561
65	63,97	1,812	1,841	0,543	0,552

In any case, in order to avoid errors and misunderstandings, we recommend setting a stowage factor each time before chartering the cargo by ship. And this will avoid problems when incomplete exhaustion of the ship’s volume or weight and possible “dead freight” invoices from ship owners.