Oil Tanker

Definition

An oil tanker carries crude or refined petroleum in segregated cargo tanks. Crude tankers run from Aframax up through Suezmax to VLCC and ULCC; product tankers, which carry refined fuels like gasoil and naphtha, are usually smaller and coated to keep cargoes clean. Modern tankers are double-hulled under MARPOL Annex I to limit spill risk. The tanker trade splits between the spot voyage market, priced on the Worldscale scale, and period time charters.

How Vessel Hunter uses Oil Tanker

Tanker operators, owners, and the service chain around them are fully mapped in Vessel Hunter, down to the ISM manager and the commercial operator behind each hull.

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Related terms

• VLCCVery Large Crude Carrier

  A crude oil tanker of roughly 200,000 to 320,000 DWT, the workhorse of long-haul crude trades.

• Suezmax

  A tanker sized to the maximum that can transit the Suez Canal fully laden, around 120,000 to 200,000 DWT.

• Aframax

  A crude tanker of roughly 80,000 to 120,000 DWT, named after an old freight-rate scale.

• Chemical Tanker

  A tanker built to carry liquid chemicals and other specialised cargoes in coated or stainless steel tanks.

• Worldscale

  The standardised freight-rate index used to price tanker voyage charters as a percentage of a published reference.

The bigger picture

Oil Tanker is one piece of the commercial maritime picture Vessel Hunter pulls together for shipyards, suppliers, service providers, and port agents. Every vessel record bundles AIS, ownership, inspections, dry-dock history, casualty record, classification status, and a verified contact for the operator decision-maker behind the ship, so the team that reaches out first wins the work.

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