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Glite Dictionary
🚢 Ship's weight limit ⚖️ A weight unit
dwt

dwt

1 9.9
Total weight a ship can safely carry including cargo, fuel, crew, and supplies
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : tonelada muerta
  • The new regulations require ships to report their dwt to avoid overloading and maintain safety at sea.

Examples

  • When calculating shipping costs, the dwt of the vessel must be considered to ensure it is within safe operational limits.

  • More than 10,000 vessels of greater than 10,000 deadweight tons (dwt) move southward through the South China Sea annually, with well over 8,000 proceeding in the opposite direction.

    Academic text (2005)

  • The cargo ship was designed to carry a maximum of 50,000 dwt, safely accommodating its load of fuel and supplies.

Synonyms

tonnage
vsdwt
  • Specialized
3 4.5

The total weight or amount a ship can carry measured in tons

is the more specific measure that counts cargo, fuel, crew, and supplies
deadweight
vsdwt
  • Specialized
1 6.8

The total weight a ship can safely carry including cargo and crew

is the abbreviation used for that exact carrying capacity measure

Surface Forms

dwt singular
dwts plural

Etymology

Dwt is the short form of deadweight (often deadweight tonnage). 'Deadweight' joins 'dead' and 'weight' to mean the ship's total carrying load, and 'tonnage' links to the familiar word ton, so dwt tells how much a ship can safely carry.