The transportation of bulk liquids began in
the late 19th century when the discovery
and expedition of oils began.
At that time, tankers emerged as the main mode of
transportation to carry
bulk liquids from refineries to the global market.
As time passed, different energy products
were produced and need for various types of tankers
came into the real picture.
Presently, a variety of products such as crude oil,
finished petroleum products, liquified natural Gas,
Chemicals, Edible oils, wine, juice, molasses etc.
are transported through tankers.
Tankers play a major share of more than 33%.
of the world fleet tonnage
Tankers, however, are not restricted to one
particular type or variety.
There are many types of tankers in terms of
Use, construction and Size.
There are two main categories by which
shipping tankers can be classified:
Let’s take a look at the classification of tankers on
the Basis of Types
1. Oil Tankers:
Oil tankers, as their name suggests,
carry oil and its by-products.
An Oil Tanker is designed to carry
wide variety of Petroleum products in bulk
ranging from Crude oil to Refined products.
their size is measured in DWT (deadweight tonnage)
and ranges from 55,000 DWT
to VLCC’s of over 300,000 DWT.
Due to their immense size, they have become quite
cheaper to transport petroleum products,
it costs around 2-4 cents per Gallon only.
Oil tankers are further sub-divided into two main types
Product tankers are used to transport petroleum
based chemicals
They are used to carry refined oil of various grades
and are smaller in size as compared to the Crude oil tankers.
Crude Tankers
These vessels are much larger in size than the other
variants of oil tankers and move a large quantity
of unrefined crude oil to the oil refineries.
They are specially designed to carry different
forms of gasses.
As per the type of cargo carried and the requirements
these tankers can be classified
into five categories as named below:
In these types of Tankers, the cargo is carried in the
ambient temperature. They have “C type” of tanks
which are made with Carbon steel.
There are no thermal insulations or any
other plants. The cargo can be directly
transferred by the pumps or compressor of the ship.
These are very similar to fully pressurised ships in term
of the tanks construction and structure
but they are designed to carry gas at a maximum
working pressure of 5-7 bars.
These ships can be used to transport a wide variety
of gas cargo in bulk.
Due to its cargo handling flexibility,
semi pressurised gas tankers are most popular
among the operators and owners.
This variant of Gas carriers are built
for unambiguous trades but also
have arrangements to carry LPG or Chemical Gases.
Their cargo carrying capacity is between
1000-12000 cubic meter.
These types of tankers can carry Liquified gases
at low temperature and atmospheric pressure.
They have a prismatic shaped cargo tanks
made up of 3.5% nickel steel,
which allows them to carry cargo
at a temperature as low as -48°C.
Statistically speaking, there are around 500 LNG tankers
that are currently under operation.
LNG is now considered to be the alternative fuel
for ships to comply with IMO 2020.
LNG Carriers are specifically designed
to trade a high volume of LNG.
These ships have a cargo carrying capacity of
125000 to 135,000 m3
LNG is carried at its boiling point, which is -162°C
inside a specialised membrane tank.
They range from 5000 to 35000DWT in size.
The size of these vessels is smaller as compared
to the Oil tankers
due to the specialized nature of the cargo
and the size restriction of the Ports and shore facilities.
They consist of various tanks which are coated with
specialized coatings such as:
Phenolic epoxy, stainless steel or zinc paint
Slurry refers to all those materials that do not disperse
or dissolve in water – and are otherwise
regarded as waste materials.
These types of vessels are not ideal for shipping
any chemical products other than slurry itself.
These tankers are specifically designed to carry Liquified
hydrogen gas in bulk.
Kawasaki heavy industries were the first
company to design a Hydrogen Tanker.
As the name suggests, these tankers were especially
designed for the carriage of juices.
They either carry concentrated or fresh orange juice
originating from Brazil to other parts of the world.
These tankers have refrigeration, temperature controller
and preservation plants, which helps them to
keep the juice fresh at all times.
Transporting wine has become quite simpler as sleek
wine tankers are used specifically to carry wine.
These tankers are used in carrying wine
from the place of production to different countries.
ITBs are prominently used in the eastern coast
of the United States. These tankers are
mainly tugs attached to barges leading
to the formation of a single cargo-carrying unit.
VLCC tankers have a cargo
carrying capacitance of 250,000 tons.
ULCC are mega ships and have a cargo
hauling capacity which ranges up to 500,000 tons.
The type of tanker that can pass through the Panama
Canal is known as Panamax
New Panamax vessels are those which can cross the
recently made new Panama canal
and have an average capacity of 65,000 DWT
The cargo tankers which cannot be classified under
Panamax category because of their bigger size
are known as the Post-Panamax tankers.
The Aframax cargo tankers are that type of tanker ships
which are mainly used in the Mediterranean sea,
China Sea and the Black Sea.
These tankers have a deadweight tonnage (DWT)
between 80,000 and 120,000 tonnes.
Panamax tankers are named for vessels
which can navigate through the Panama Canal.
Similarly, the Suezmax vessels are so called
because they can pass through the Suez Canal.
These are the largest LNG carriers that can dock
at the LNG terminals in Qatar
having a length of approx 345 metres
and capacity of 266,000 cubic metres
It cannot be denied that in the present day scenario
the whole world runs in oil and gas
and tanker shipping offers the best possible
transportation efficiency of these products.