Applies to ships designed to freight carrying containers.  No work in holds.  Code 7327F shall not be assigned to the same risk in connection with single vessel.     

Code 7327F applies to employers engaged in stevedoring operations involving containerized cargo.  Stevedoring for workers compensation classification purposes contemplates any or all of the following operations when conducted by employees who are not members of the crews of vessels:

1. Loading or unloading, stowing, shifting or trimming of cargo, supplies, and materials on board vessels.  (Trimming refers to balancing a ship by shifting cargo.)
2. Transfer of cargo, supplies, and materials between vessels and piers and vice versa, regardless of the necessity of work on board vessels by employees of the employer.
3. Transfer between stringpiece and point of deposit on dock and adjacent warehouses including tiering, sorting, and breaking down.  (A stringpiece is timber lying along the top of piles, forming a dock front or timber pier.)
4. Operation of all mechanical equipment, including dock tractors, in connection with the above.

This classification operations contemplate the use of gantry cranes, which are usually part of each vessel’s gear.  The cranes are moved over the dock and lowered to attach the crane’s lugs mechanically to the individual containers which have been brought to the dock by trailer chassis.  The containers are individually lifted by crane and positioned above a vessel’s general deck area or specific cells on the vessel.  Each container is then lowered to its final position and automatically locked into place and released by the crane.  The reverse procedure is followed in removing individual containers from vessels.  These operations are performed with the assistance of signalmen located on the bridge of the vessels, and deck stevedores, whose work is confined to swinging away the lugs used to open or close the cells and fastening or unfastening containers on the decks.

Dock stevedores guide the trailer trucks to the appropriate spot under the cranes, release the containers from the chassis by unlocking simple lugs, lock on the replacement containers, and signal the trailers on their way.  This classification contemplates drivers other than those engaged in over-the-road trucking, which is classified to the appropriate trucking classification.

When an employer is classified to this classification, employees engaged in the storage, maintenance, or repair of nets, slings, forklift trucks, or other equipment utilized by stevedoring concerns are also assigned to this classification, even if such operations are conducted at a separate location.  Code 7327F is additionally applicable to employees of Code 7327F employers who handle shore lines to moor or unmoor vessels.

 
Stevedoring operations are also considered general exclusions.  This means that unless stevedoring operations are specifically included in the wording of the basic classification applicable to a business, stevedoring operations are separately classified.  This situation may occur when an employer such as a manufacturer, lumberyard, or fuel dealer is located on navigable waters.  Such employers may load their products on ships or unload raw materials or finished products from ships.  In many instances this work is done at irregular periods by employees normally engaged in plant operations.  Payroll expended for such loading or unloading on navigable waters should be assigned to the appropriate stevedoring classification.