The work of man can be seen everywhere. In the sky with mastery of the air thanks to planes. On earth with the birth of highways and other real estate constructions which are the symbol of its impact on nature. And finally, on the seas where boats ply. Sometimes small for boaters, sometimes huge like those of the merchant navy. However, how big can the largest ships, the famous supertankers, measure?
What is a supertanker?
Before we focus on models like the Batillus, a ship with a unique design in the mid-1970s, let’s take a moment to understand what we mean by a supertanker. You have to imagine big, even very big when this name comes to be pronounced.
It is, according to the simple definition of the National Center for Textual and Lexical Resources, a “very large capacity tanker, beyond 100,000 tonnes”. This is therefore not the first boat in the area.
What will distinguish it from a classic oil tanker or “tanker” for the English word meaning tank is, in addition to its size and its capacity to store oil, the distance it will travel.
Thus, to take up the comparison made on the Connaissance des energies site, tankers will be used for so-called average distances, within the limits of the same sea for example. Conversely, supertankers will make longer journeys, particularly between different continents.
The supertanker should also not be confused with a container ship. Indeed, the latter is also a freight transport vessel. But it is characterized, as its name indicates, as a ship which transports containers and not one or more tanks, as on an oil tanker or a supertanker.
How are the different tankers classified?
Concerning the categorization of these ships with sometimes gigantic dimensions, it is done according to two criteria at the same time: the size which was conditioned in particular by the passages used by the ships, and the transport capacity.
Thus, there are several types of oil tankers:
- Coastal tankers: must not exceed 205 meters in length and 29 meters in width and have a maximum capacity of 50,000 tonnes.
- Aframax: acronym for Average Freight Rate Assessment (AFRA, Evaluation of the average freight rate), they are a maximum of 245 meters by 34 meters wide and whose capacity does not exceed 80,000 tonnes.
- The Suezmax: intended to use the Suez Canal, these ships measure a maximum of 285 meters long and 45 meters wide and can accommodate between 125,000 and 180,000 tonnes of oil.
- VLCC: acronym for Very Large Crude Carrier (Very large crude carrier), these supertankers are up to 330 meters long by 55 meters wide and can transport up to 320,000 tonnes of crude oil.
- ULCC: acronym for Ultra Large Crude Carrier (Ultra large crude carrier), these supertankers reach and can exceed 415 meters in length and 63 meters in width and have a greater capacity which can exceed 320,000 tonnes of crude oil.
Only these last two categories are designed to transport crude oil only. The others transport refined oil and crude oil.
Finally, one last type is not mentioned on the site of Ports Economics Managementbut is on the other hand on Knowledge of energies: Panamax type oil tankers.
Intended to use the Panama Canal, they do not exceed 294.1 meters in length and are 32.3 meters wide at most. As for their transport capacity, it does not exceed 65,000 tonnes.
Some of the greatest supertankers to have sailed the seas and oceans
Well, now that we know what we’re talking about and the different classes of tankers and supertankers, we can look at some of the largest supertankers to ever sail.
So here is the Batillus, THE Seawise Giant, THE TI Oceania and the Pierre Guillaumat.
THE Batillus
Built between 1975 and 1976, it is a ULCC type supertanker. Manufactured in Saint-Nazaire, it became, when launched, the largest supertanker in the world. Measuring 412.2 meters long by 63 meters wide, it could carry with it more than 550,000 tonnes of crude oil. On the water, this real monster, built for the Shell France company, reached a speed of 16 knots, or a little over 29.5 km/h.
Remaining in service for just under ten years, it was demolished on December 22, 1985 in Taiwan.
THE Seawise Giant
Also known as Knock Nevis or Viking Age, this supertanker was of the ULCC type. Built between 1975 in Japan to compete with Batillus, it measured 458 meters long and 69 meters wide, thus becoming the largest ship in the world. However, this title was given to it after it was enlarged, because before that it was the Pierre Guillaumat who held him.
Capable of carrying up to 564,763 tonnes of crude oil, it was impossible to navigate in certain places, notably the Suez and Panama Canal, due to its deep draft of 24.6 meters.
Entered service in 1975, it ended up being destroyed in 2010.
THE TI Oceania
Of this presentation, it is the only one still in service today. Known as TI Oceania and of Hellespont Fairfax, it is the only double-hull supertanker record holder in the world.
It is, however, smaller in length than the two previous ones with its 380 meters long and 68 meters wide. Sailing under the flag of Liberia, it took the name of SA Oceania since December 2023.
It also has a smaller capacity than the previous ones cited with 442,470 tonnes of maximum crude oil load for this ULCC type supertanker. Built in South Korea in 2002 in the port of Daewoo, it has been sailing the seas since 2003.
THE Pierre Guillaumat
If the Seawise Giant is the largest ship in history, it became so after an enlargement. Yes, because the prize for the largest ship ever to have been built goes to the Pierre Guillaumat. Its name is a tribute to the president of the Elf company who itself ordered the construction of the ship.
Thus, when it left the shipyard in 1977, it measured 414.23 meters in length and 63.05 meters in width. Capable of transporting more than 555,000 tonnes of crude oil, this ULCC tanker straight from Saint-Nazaire sailed the oceans for only six years before being bought by the Korean company Ulsan and dismantled. in South Korea in 1983.
Note that all these supertankers have more impressive dimensions than the famous cruise ships or liners: Icon of the Seas (364.7 m long by 47 m wide), Harmony of the Seas (362.12m long by 47.4m wide) and Symphony of the Seas (361.8 meters long by 47.4 meters wide).
The possible disastrous impact of supertankers on the environment
Although impressive and capable of transporting incredibly large quantities of fuel across continents, these supertankers represent a significant risk to the environment.
If the use of fuel is of course one of the concerns of environmentalists, the risks of a capsize and therefore a potential oil spill that would result from it are all the more serious for the environment.
In France, the last one to have had a significant impact on our coasts was the sinking of theErika, on December 12, 1999 off the coast of Brittany.
It was an oil tanker 184 meters long and 28 meters wide which, at the time of its sinking, was carrying nearly 40,000 tonnes of oil, most of which spilled into the Atlantic Ocean and reached the French coasts very shortly after.
