Bay-Row-Tier
Bay-row-tier is the six-digit coordinate system for a container's position on board, following ISO 9711 practice. Bays count from bow to stern, rows from the centreline (odd to starboard, even to port, 00 on the centreline when the row count is odd), and tiers from the bottom up: 02, 04, 06 in the hold and from 80 or 82 upward on deck. For example, slot 140682 means bay 14, row 06 on the port side, tier 82, the first tier on deck.
Related terms
- Bay Plan
A bay plan is a cross-section drawing of a vessel, bay by bay, showing what sits in every slot by row and tier, with container number, weight, discharge port and dangerous-goods c…
- BAPLIE (Bayplan/Stowage Plan Occupied and Empty Locations Message)
BAPLIE is a UN/EDIFACT electronic message maintained by SMDG for exchanging bay plan data between shipping lines, terminals and planners.
- Stowage Plan
A stowage plan is the planned position of every container or cargo unit on board a vessel, built by line and terminal planners before the ship berths.
Covered in these guides
Bridge Visibility and Line of Sight: SOLAS V/22, Deck Stack Height and Trim
How to check container ship bridge visibility under SOLAS V/22, how deck stack height and trim affect it, a similar-triangles worked example and the air draft link.
6 min read Vessel stowageBAPLIE EDI Explained: SMDG 2.x vs 3.x, Segments and Bay Plan Validation
What BAPLIE is, how the UN/EDIFACT bay plan message works, SMDG 2.x vs 3.x, key segments such as LOC, MEA, EQD and DGS, validation checks and related messages.
5 min read Vessel stowageContainer Ship Bay Planning: Pre-stow, POD Blocks and Stack Limits
How a planner builds a container ship bay plan, from pre-stow by POD, stack weights, hold vs deck, reefers, OOG and 45ft boxes to hatch covers.
6 min read Maritime professionalsHow to Read a Bay Plan: Bay, Row and Tier Explained with 030482
How to read container positions on a ship with the ISO 9711-1 bay-row-tier system, decoding 030482 and 141086, BAPLIE messages and bay plan notation.
5 min read