Laden
A ship carrying cargo — the revenue-earning leg of a voyage, the opposite of ballast.
A vessel is laden when she is loaded with cargo and sitting at or near her cargo-carrying draught. The laden leg is the paid portion of a voyage, in contrast to the ballast leg sailed empty to reach the next load port.
The split between laden and ballast time is a key efficiency signal: a fleet spending more time laden relative to ballast is being deployed more productively.
Also known as: loaded, laden leg.
Related terms
Ballast
Seawater carried in tanks to keep an unladen ship stable and properly trimmed — and the term for a non-revenue, empty leg.
Draught
The vertical distance from the waterline to the bottom of the keel — how deep the ship sits in the water.
Time Charter EquivalentTCE
A voyage’s daily earnings net of voyage costs — the single number that makes a voyage charter comparable with a time charter rate.
Plain-English reference definition — our own explanation of a standard shipping concept, not a licensed source or legal advice. See the full glossary or the broader maritime dictionary.
Last reviewed: June 2026.