Tanker Size

There are different sizes of tankers used in 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 tons versus 400,000 tons). Because of their huge mass, tankers have a large inertia, making them very difficult to steer. A loaded supertanker could take as much as 3 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 deadweight tons, mainly used for transportation of refined products (gasoline, gasoil).
Aframax	245 m	34 m	20 m	Approximately 80,000 deadweight tons (American Freight Rate Association).
Suezmax	285 m	45 m	23 m	Between 125,000 and 180,000 deadweight tons, originally the maximum capacity of the Suez Canal.
VLCC	350 m	55 m	28 m	Very Large Crude Carrier. Up to around 300,000 deadweight tons of crude oil.
ULCC	415 m	63 m	35 m	Ultra Large Crude Carrier. Capacity exceeding 300,000 deadweight tons. The largest tankers ever built have a deadweight of over 550,000 deadweight tons.