Tanker (ship)

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A tanker is a ship designed to transport liquids in bulk.

Tankers can range in size from several hundred tons, designed for servicing small harbours and coastal settlements, to several hundred thousand tons, with these being designed for long-range haulage. A wide range of products are carried by tankers, including:

hydrocarbon products such as oil, LPG, and LNG
Chemicals, such as ammonia, chlorine, and styrene monomer
fresh water

Different products require different handling and transport, thus special types of tankers have been built, such as "chemical tankers" and "oil tankers". "LNG carriers" as they are typically known, are a relatively rare tanker designed to carry liquefied natural gas.

Among oil tankers, supertankers were designed for carrying oil around the Horn of Africa from the Middle East; the supertanker Knock Nevis being the largest vessel in the world.

Apart from pipeline transport, supertankers are the only method for transporting large quantities of oil, although such tankers have caused large environmental disasters when sinking close to coastal regions, causing oil spills. See Exxon Valdez, Braer, Prestige, Torrey Canyon, Erika, for examples of tankers that have caused oil spills.

Tankers used for liquid fuels are classified according to their capacity.

VLCC stands for "Very Large Crude Carrier", typically measuring between 200,000 dwt tons and 320,000 dwt tons.
ULCC stands for "Ultra Large Crude Carrier", typically measuring over 320,000 dwt tons.

The following designations are not exclusive to tankers and are applied to a broad range of cargo vessels, however some were developed initially for tankers.

Suezmax - a vessel that can transit the Suez Canal, typically measuring 120,000 - 200,000 deadweight.
Aframax - an acronym for the Average Freight Rate Assesment, with vessels typically measuring 80,000 - 120,000 deadweight.
Panamax - a vessel that can transit the Panama Canal, typically measuring 50,000 - 79,000 deadweight.
MR - an abbreviation for "Medium Range", typically measuring 38,000 - 50,000 deadweight
GP - an abbreviation for "General Purpose", typically measuring less than 38,000 deadweight

There are also additional designation systems used, using the "Large Range" acronyms LR, LR1, LR2, and LRC.

External links

[link] - ship photos.
[link] Auke Visser's supertankers information page.
[link] Poten & Partners: A Collection of Articles Relating to Tankers

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