RoRo stowage planner
List the port rotation, enter your cargo by load and discharge port, set the ship's decks and clear heights, and lift the hoistable panels you need. See every deck of a car carrier or RoRo ship filled, what is reserved, what is still free, and what does not fit and why.
Stowage planner
Sample plan: a 7,000 CEU car carrier loading in Shanghai for Zeebrugge, Southampton and Bremerhaven. Change anything, or .
Everything fits · 4,610 units · 97% of the ship used
View planCargo
All placed on decks 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13
All placed on decks 1, 2, 8, 9
All placed on deck 3
All placed on deck 5
All placed on deck 5
Ship
54,468 m² usable · 6,654 CEU · 19,112 lane m
Decks
Clear height with every liftable deck above it down.
Assumptions
Space lost to pillars, ramps, lashing and odd shapes. 8 to 15% is usual.
Port rotation
Every port the ship calls at, in order. Cargo for the first discharge port goes on the decks nearest the main deck (deck 5, where the stern ramp lands), cargo for the last port furthest from it. Tall and heavy units still go only where they fit.
- 1.ShanghaiLoad
- 2.ZeebruggeDischarge
- 3.SouthamptonDischarge
- 4.BremerhavenDischarge
Reserved space
Hold space on a deck for a customer or a port before you know the cargo.
How to make a RoRo stowage plan
Pick the ship
Start from a car carrier, short-sea RoRo, ConRo or RoPax preset, then set the number of decks and each deck's clear height, deck load and axle limit.
Lift the hoistable decks you need
Lift panels where tall units need the height. The deck below gains it for the length of those panels; the lifted panels carry nothing this voyage.
List the ports in call order
Add every port the ship calls at, load ports first. The rotation decides the decks: cargo for the first port out goes nearest the main deck, where the stern ramp lands, and cargo for the last port furthest from it.
Enter the cargo by load and discharge port
One line per cargo type and pair of ports, picked from the rotation: units, size, weight and axles. Cars, vans, buses, trucks, trailers and machinery start from typical sizes you can change.
Hold space you have promised
Reserve space on a deck for a customer or a port before the cargo is booked, in square metres or in units of a cargo type.
Read the plan, then share it
See what fits on each deck and why any units do not. Let the planner suggest panels to lift, then save the plan, share a link or download a PDF or CSV.
How the planner fills a ship
Each deck has a clear height, a deck load and an axle limit. A liftable deck is made of panels: lift one and the deck below gets both heights for the length of that panel, while the lifted panel's own space is gone for the voyage.
Tall and heavy units are placed first, only where they fit, so high decks are not filled with cars that would fit anywhere. For cargo that could go on several decks, the port rotation decides: the first port out goes on the decks nearest the main deck, where the stern ramp lands, and the last port furthest from it. Each port's cargo stays together where it can.
Every deck loses some space to pillars, ramps and lashing points. The planner takes 10% off by default, keeps 0.3 m between units fore and aft and beside, and wants 0.1 m of headroom above the tallest unit. Change any of these under Assumptions if you know your ship's figures.
Hoistable decks on a car carrier
A hoistable deck, also called a liftable or movable car deck, is made of panels that can be raised and stowed under the deck above. Car carriers use them to turn two low car decks into one high deck where vans, trucks, buses or machinery need the room.
When a panel is up, the deck below gets its own clear height plus the hoistable deck's height for the length of that panel, so a 2.9 m hold under a 2.1 m hoistable deck becomes about 5 m. The space on the lifted panel itself is lost for the voyage, which is why planners lift only the panels the tall cargo needs.
Car carrier and RoRo deck heights in the planner
The rounded figures each ship type starts from, not any named ship. Real deck heights and loads vary a lot between ships, so check your ship's particulars and edit the decks to match.
| Deck figure | Large car carrier | Mid-size car carrier | Short-sea RoRo | ConRo | RoPax |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decks | 13 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| Hoistable decks | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Car deck clear height | 1.85 to 2.30 m | 1.85 to 2.20 m | 2.30 to 2.40 m | None | 2.00 to 2.40 m |
| Tallest clear height, panels down | 3.10 m | 3.00 m | 5.00 m | 6.00 m | 2.40 m |
| Deck load | 0.3 to 4 t/m² | 0.3 to 4 t/m² | 0.4 to 3.5 t/m² | 2 to 4 t/m² | 0.35 to 3 t/m² |
| Heaviest axle | 22 t | 20 t | 18 t | 40 t | 16 t |