Vessel of the OBO or bulk carrier type

A vessel of the ore/bulk/oil or bulk carrier type for transportation of bulk cargo, comprising a hull defining a cargo area under a single deck, the cargo area having a plurality of transverse bulkheads including a forward end transverse bulkhead and an aft end transverse bulkhead, and intermediate transverse bulkheads between the forward end transverse bulkhead and the aft end transverse bulkhead, a longitudinal centreline bulkhead extending continuously between the aft end transverse bulkhead and the forward end transverse bulkhead and intersecting the intermediate transverse bulkheads, the transverse bulkheads and the longitudinal centreline bulkhead forming longitudinal cargo holds, each cargo hold having a longitudinal length greater than a transverse breadth thereof and a hatch opening in the single deck and essentially covering a bottom area thereof, thereby to provide a substantially open hatch for access to each cargo hold, and single piece hatch covers for covering the respective hatch openings, the hatch covers for two adjacently located hatch openings being movable in a longitudinal direction of the vessel into a position so that both hatch covers for a pair of transversely adjacent holds can be stacked onto a longitudinally adjacent pair of hatch covers to facilitate simultaneous access to the transversely adjacent holds.