Talk:Cargo liner

Definition
A description which may serve as a definition: "The second category of coastal and short-sea steamship was the cargo liner which often combined the carriage of freight with passengers. Such shipping was deployed in more or less regular services, offering merchants and traders a schedule of rates, and accepting highly heterogeneous cargoes ranging fron the common domestic necessaries to raw materials, semi-manufactures and finished products." . A few points: Kablammo (talk) 17:45, 29 October 2009 (UTC)
 * Cargo liners include vessels in short-sea and coastwise trades.
 * While the quote above is from a chapter entitled The coasting and short-sea trades, the book in general and other sources make it clear that cargo liners include seagoing vessels that traded all over the world.
 * It appears that passenger capacity was common but not necessarily present in all cargo liners.
 * Colliers are not included in the category; it seems more applicable to general merchandise as well as raw materials.
 * Tramp steamers are differentiated from cargo liners.
 * Ocean liners, primarily designed for the transport of passengers, do not fit within the category even though virtually all carried some freight.