Tanker Size

There are different tanker sizes used for the international transportation of oil, from a modest coastal tanker to a VLCC or ULCC Supertanker. The common rule is that the volume that can be carried in a tanker increases as a function of the cube of its length. For instance, a ULCC is about twice the length of a coastal tanker (415 meters versus 205 meters), but can carry about 8 times the volume (50,000 deadweight tons versus 400,000 dwt).

The largest ship ever built was an oil tanker; the Knock Nevis built in 1979 (christened as the Seawise Giant) with 565,000 of dwt, a length 458 meters, a beam of 69 meters and a draught of 25 meters. The ship was so large that no port could accommodate it fully laden, so it was loaded and unloaded while anchored offshore. In 2004 the Knock Nevis was converted to a floating storage and mooring unit of the coast of Qatar until 2009 when it was scrapped. As of 2010, only 12 tankers above 320,000 dwt remain. Of this, only two "true" ULCC of around 430,000 dwt are left in operation, the TI Europe and the TI Oceana, which were part of a group of four ships constructed between 2002 and 2003. The other two ships, TI Africa and TI Asia were converted into floating storage and mooring units in 2010. Oil tankers have a commercial life expectancy of about 30 years.

Because of their huge mass, tankers have a large inertia, making them very difficult to steer. A loaded supertanker could take as much as 4 to 8 kilometers and 15 minutes to come to a full stop and has a turning diameter of about 2 kilometers. Among the main tanker classes are:

Class	Length	Beam	Draft	Overview
Coastal Tanker	205 m	29 m	16 m	Less than 50,000 dwt, mainly used for transportation of refined products (gasoline, gasoil).
Aframax	245 m	34 m	20 m	Approximately 80,000 dwt (Average Freight Rate Assessment).
Suezmax	285 m	45 m	23 m	Between 125,000 and 180,000 dwt, originally the maximum capacity of the Suez Canal.
VLCC	330 m	55 m	28 m	Very Large Crude Carrier. Up to around 320,000 dwt. Some can be accommodated by the expanded dimensions of the Suez Canal. The most common length is in the range of 300 to 330 meters.
ULCC	415 m	63 m	35 m	Ultra Large Crude Carrier. Capacity exceeding 320,000 dwt. The largest tankers ever built have a deadweight of over 550,000 dwt.