Ships Transporting Energy

We named our Tanker Project deeming "tanker" as a symbol which carries large amount of energy enough to vitalize number of people around the world, freely crossing the boarders to another. This article is a research of this large vessel, so called "tankers".

Most people may think that tanker is a vessel carrying crude oil. But there actually are a lot of variations carrying different kind of energies.

■Oil Tankers

Oil tankers may be the most well known among tankers.  They carry oil and it’s by-products. Their hold (container for the oil) is divided into several sections, and in order to heighten the security in case of leaking, they have double structured wall (of the hold and the ship itself).  They are equipped with pipelines and pumps. LCC (large crude carriers) are now popular which are able to carry 300,000 deadweight tonnage.

■LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) tankers

Indistinguishable with their characteristic shape, LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) tankers carry natural gas, a fossil fuel, which was liquified at an ultra- low temperature of minus 162 degrees Celsius. They are high-tech carriages with tanks made of special material to sustain low temperature during the transportation, as well as energy shut-off system to prevent accidents during cargo handling, and turbine engine that uses vaporized natural gas of the freight as their fuel during the operation. There are variations for the shapes of tanks.

■ Bulk carriers (carrying raw material such as coal, ore, and grain)              

A general term for ships loaded with large amount of unpacked raw material directly into the cargo hold.  They carry a large amount of energy resources such as iron ore and coal, grains, and various raw material (aluminum, pulp, etc.)  They have huge lid (hatch) on their deck, and cranes to handle cargos.

■ What are Tankers？

Tankers are vehicles (ships, cars, trains, airplanes, etc) made to transport liquids. They are generally called tankers since they have large tank inside. In general, as oil tanker ships are often called "tankers", other machines are called tank truck or tanker aircraft. In order to categorize oil tanker ships more in detail, name of the liquids are usually added before "tanker" such as LNG tanker, chemical tanker, etc.

On the other hand, bulk carriers transport dry material instead of liquids.