stevedore (/ˈstiːvɪˌdɔːr/), longshoreman, docker, or dockworker is a waterfront manual laborer

who is involved in loading and unloading ships, trucks, trains or airplanes.

After the shipping container revolution of the 1960s, the number of dockworkers required declined by
over 90%, and the term "stevedore" has increasingly come to mean a stevedoring firm that
contracts with a port, shipowner, or charterer to load and unload a vessel.[1][2]

Contents

 1Etymology
 2Loading and unloading ships
 3By country
o 3.1Australia
o 3.2New Zealand
o 3.3United Kingdom
o 3.4United States
 4Famous former stevedores
 5In popular culture
 6See also
 7References
 8Further reading
 9External links

Etymology[edit]
The word stevedore originated in Portugal or Spain, and entered the English language through its
use by sailors.[3] It started as a phonetic spelling of estivador (Portuguese) or estibador (Spanish),
meaning a man who loads ships and stows cargo, which was the original meaning
of stevedore (though there is a secondary meaning of "a man who stuffs" in Spanish);
compare Latin stīpāre meaning to stuff, as in to fill with stuffing.[4] In the United Kingdom, people who
load and unload ships are usually called dockers, in Australia dockers or wharfies, while in
the United States and Canada the term longshoreman, derived from man-along-the-shore, is used.
[5]
 Before extensive use of container ships and shore-based handling machinery in the United
States, longshoremen referred exclusively to the dockworkers, while stevedores, in a separate trade
union, worked on the ships, operating ship's cranes and moving cargo. In Canada, the
term stevedore has also been used, for example, in the name of the Western Stevedoring Company,
Ltd., based in Vancouver, B.C., in the 1950s.[6]

Loading and unloading ships[edit]

Admiralty law
 History

 Ordinamenta et consuetudo maris

 Amalfian Laws
 Hanseatic League

Features
 Shipping

Freight rate
 General average
 Marine insurance
 Marine salvage
 Maritime lien
 Ship mortgage
 Ship registration
 Ship transport
 International Regulations for
Preventing Collisions at Sea

Contracts of affreightment
 Bill of lading
 Charter-party

Types of charter-party
 Bareboat
 Demise
 Time
 Voyage

Parties
 Carrier
 Charterer
 Consignee
 Consignor
 Shipbroker
 Ship-manager
 Shipping agent
 Ship-owner
 Shipper
 Stevedore
 Judiciary
 Admiralty court
 Vice admiralty court

International conventions
 Hague-Visby Rules
 Hamburg Rules
 Rotterdam Rules
 Maritime Labour Convention
 International Convention on Salvage
 United Nations Convention on
the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
 SOLAS Convention
 Ballast Water Management Convention

International organisations
 International Maritime Organization
 London Maritime Arbitrators Association

 v
 t
 e

Loading and unloading ships requires knowledge of the operation of loading equipment, the proper
techniques for lifting and stowing cargo, and correct handling of hazardous materials. In addition,
workers must be physically strong and able to follow orders attentively. In order to unload a ship
successfully, many longshoremen are needed. There is only a limited amount of time that a ship can
be at a port, so they need to get their jobs done quickly.
In earlier days before the introduction of containerization, men who loaded and unloaded ships had
to tie down cargoes with rope. A type of stopper knot is called the stevedore knot. The methods of
securely tying up parcels of goods is called stevedore lashing or stevedore knotting. While loading
a general cargo vessel, they use dunnage, which are pieces of wood (or nowadays sometimes
strong inflatable dunnage bags) set down to keep the cargo out of any water that might be lying in
the hold or are placed as shims between cargo crates for load securing.