World Tanker Fleet

• There are 11,127 total tankers in the world fleet
• For crude imports to the Pier 400, Berth 408 Project site, we are focusing on 1,222 long haul crude oil tankers
• About 80 percent of these 1,222 tankers are independently owned.

For more technical information about crude oil tankers, their architecture, emissions reductions, and power configurations, please refer to the “Resources” area of this section and click on “tanker information.” You will find a wealth of details related to the tanker industry and shipping business.

Classes of Crude Oil Tankers
Most of the world’s crude oil tankers are between 70,000 dead weight tons (DWT) and 500,000 DWT. Within this range, four size classes are most popular:

• Panamax – up to 70,000 DWT – approximately 500,000 barrels capacity – the largest vessels that can transit the Panama Canal, although the depth of the canal limits their draft which limits their capacity to a maximum of about 50,000 DWT or approximately 400,000 barrels
• Aframax – 70,000 to 120,000 DWT – approximately 750,000 barrels capacity – originally configured to obtain the best rates under the Average Freight Rate Assessment Scale Published monthly by the London Tanker Brokers Panel
• Suezmax – 120,000 to 200,000 DWT – approximately 1,000,000 barrels capacity – the largest vessel size that can transit the Suez Canal fully loaded.
• Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) – 200,000 to 325,000 DWT – approximately 2,000,000 barrels capacity
• Ultra Large Crude Carrier (ULCC) – 325,00 to 550,000 DWT – up to 4,000,000 barrels capacity