What is the difference between a longshoreman and a stevedore?

Question

What is the difference between a longshoreman and a stevedore?

Answer 1

The words stevedore, docker, and longshoreman can have various waterfront-related meanings concerning loading and unloading ships, according to place and country.

The word "stevedore" originated in Spain or Portugal, and entered the English language through its use by sailors. It started as a phonetic spelling of Spanish estibador or Portuguese estivador = "a man who stuffs", here in the sense of "a man who loads ships", which was the original meaning of "stevedore"; compare Latin stīpāre = "to stuff".

In the United Kingdom, men who load and unload ships are usually called dockers while in the United States and Canada the term longshoreman, derived from "man-along-the-shore," is used.

Answer 2

in the US, a longshoreman is the laborer, who works for the stevedore. The stevedoring company and his supervisor (stevedore) gets paid to unload/load a ship.  they own the equipment, forklifts, front end loaders, various spreader bars, slings, etc.  The Stevedore pays the longshoremen to hook, unhook, lash, operate the cranes and gear, drive forklifts or other machinery.

trust this helps

Answer 3

OK lets get this straight (don't take to much notice of wiki).  A stevedore was a docker with brains.  A docker loads/unloads ships, a stevedore did much more, to call a stevedore a docker is an insult.

Sorry I don't know what a longshoreman is, it is not heard of in the London docks.

Answer 4

I am not sure -  but I think a longshoreman is the USA & Canada equivelant of a stevedore in the UK