Introduction of tanker ships ① Focusing on tanker types, cargo characteristics, transport process, and volume by country

Following the introduction of bulk carriers and container ships, the third chapter introduces tankers. If the bulk carrier market is linked to raw materials such as iron ore, coal, and grain, and the container ship is linked to economic trends, terminal & port demurrage (strikes), and temporary cancellation of alliances, the tanker ship is related to international oil prices and natural gas. is very high.

And, among the various types of tankers, let's focus more on the tanker market.

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1.    Types of tankers

 

1) Classification according to transport cargo

A. Crude Oil Tanker

- A large tanker used for crude oil transportation, which is usually classified as a very large tanker (ULCC) of 300,000 DWT or more and a large tanker (VLCC) of 200,000 DWT or more.

B. Product Tanker

A ship that carries refined petroleum products (naphtha, diesel oil, gasoline, etc.). Compared to crude oil tankers, small Panamax and Supramax class vessels are widely used.

 

C. Chemical Tanker

It mainly transports petrochemical products. As a special feature, we provide a parcel service that ships various types of cargo and transports them to multiple places.

Looking at the picture, the crude oil tank has a cargo hold compartment inside, while a chemical tanker has a lot of cargo hold compartments outside. It can be confirmed that it divides a lot of compartment windows to be suitable for parcel service and has a complicated structure to maintain cargo cleanliness through independent piping systems.

 

D. Gas Tanker

It is a tanker vessel designed to transport liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

- LPG carrier: Transport propane, butane gas, etc.

- LNG carrier: transportation of liquefied natural gas (transportation at a very low temperature of -160 degrees Celsius)

 

2) Classification according to size

 

VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier) usually refers to crude oil carriers of 200K – 300K DWT, and is the largest type among vessels classified as tankers.

  SUEZMAX, which means the maximum size of ships that pass through the Suez Canal without hindrance, is usually 140K - 160K DWT, and AFRAMAX (Average Fright Rate Assessment Maximum) or LR2 (Large/Long Ragne) is usually classified as 90K - 110K DWT ships.

PANAMAX or LR1 (Large/Long Ragne) usually refers to 75K – 85K DWT ships, and MR (Medium Range) refers to ships with normal 30K – 55K DWT.

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2.    Cargo Types and Characteristics of Tanker Ships

Here is a brief introduction to the main cargoes of tankers.

 

1) crude oil

Because crude oil is a liquid, it has the advantage of being simple and easy to handle from development to use. Complete combustion is possible due to low impurities, and it is a fuel for petroleum products and petrochemical products. The three representative crude oil types are classified as DUBAI (Middle East), BRENT (North Sea), and WTI (USA). WTI and BRENT with high API are classified as low sulfur light oil, and DUBAI oil with low API is classified as high sulfur heavy oil.

Low-sulfur light oil produces more expensive light products such as gasoline, while high-sulfur heavy oil produces more cheap heavy fuel products such as bunker C oil used in ships.

 

2) Petroleum products

The representative petroleum product is gasoline, which is the most used in our daily life. In addition to fueling automobiles, gasoline is also used for industrial purposes such as painting and washing. Jet oil used as aircraft fuel, naphtha used as raw material for petrochemical/manufacturing, and kerosene/diesel/heavy oil can be regarded as petroleum products.

 

3) Petrochemical products

When naphtha is injected into the NCC (Naphtha Cracking Center), basic oils such as ethylene, propylene, and butadiene are produced.

These basic oils are used as raw materials for synthetic resins (PVC, polyethylene), synthetic rubber, and synthetic fibers, and are ultimately used throughout the business, including the plastics processing industry, textile industry, rubber industry, paint/detergent industry, and cosmetics industry. In other words, it is a basic raw material with a wide variety of uses, ranging from various household items to electrical and electronic products, computers, automobiles, and construction.

 

In other words, crude oil is transported by tankers, petroleum products by petroleum product ships, and petrochemical products by chemical product ships.

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3.     Tanker transport process

 

This is a brief oil transport flow. As shown in the figure, after drilling, the crude oil stored through the production process is transported to the importing country where the crude oil refinery is located via an oil tanker. A representative country is Korea. Although crude oil is not produced, petroleum products made by refining imported crude oil are exported again

 

Let's take a look at the representative routes for each type of tanker ship. The representative route for VLCCs over 200,000 DWT is Ras Tanura (Saudi Arabia) → China (Far East Asia), and the representative route for Suezmax vessels transporting 120,000 to 200,000 DWT is Bonny (West Africa) → Lavera (Southern Europe). Aframax vessels between 80,000 and 120,000 DWT are mainly transported from Novorossiysk (Black Sea) → Trieste (Southern Europe).

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4.    Crude oil maritime transport volume in 2023

Let's take a look at crude oil import/export volume by continent.

 

• Exports: North America (USA), Middle East (Saudi Arabia, Iraq, UAE in order), Europe (Russia, Norway, UK in order), Africa (Nigeria, Angola, Libya in order).
• Imports: North America (USA, Canada), Asia (China, India, Korea, Japan in order), Europe (Netherlands, Spain, Germany in order).

In order of volume, exports are Saudi Arabia (7.4M bpd), the United States (4.4M bpd), and Russia (4.1M bpd), while imports are China (9.7M bpd), India (4.8M bpd), and Korea (2.9M bpd). bpd) appear in order.

 

 thank you