Gross tonnage

Okay little buddy, let me explain gross tonnage to you.

Imagine that you have a huge toy box full of toy cars, blocks, and dolls. All of these toys are different sizes and weights, right? Now let's say that you want to figure out how big your toy box is. This is kind of like what people do when they need to figure out how big a ship is!

When people talk about a ship's gross tonnage, they're basically talking about how much space there is inside the ship. It's like how much the toy box can hold all of your toys.

But here's the thing: when we talk about gross tonnage, we're not measuring how much the ship itself weighs. We're measuring the total volume of all the enclosed spaces within the ship. That includes things like cargo holds, engine rooms, and crew quarters.

So, gross tonnage is a way to tell how much stuff a ship can carry. Just like you can fit more toys into a big toy box, a ship with a high gross tonnage can carry more cargo than a smaller ship.

Pretty cool, huh?