Understanding Design Of Oil Tanker

Ships
Tankers have been one of the oldest types of merchant ships; the need for these
vessels arising due to heterogeneous distribution of natural oil reserves and liquid
chemicals around the globe.

The most common types of tankers operating at sea are oil tankers. While it may seem
that oil tankers generally carry oil, the fact has quite more to it, if understood in detail.
Which brings us to the need to understand that since there are different grades of
oil (depending on the levels of purification), oil tankers have been designed separately
and specifically to carry different oil types.

It is important to have a brief look into the history of oil tankers, especially to understand
the dynamics of the oil market and relate its influence on the sizes of oil tankers used in
different eras.

The size of oil tankers had seen a rapid increase in the mid-seventies due to abundance
in oil trade, and as a result, for the first time, tankers of deadweight in the ranges of
100000-200000 lakh metric tonnes were constructed in Japan to be able to carry more
quantity of oil in a single voyage, and hence reduce the freight costs for more profits.

But in the late nineties, due to the skyrocketing of oil prices, the quantity of oil being traded by
sea had considerably reduced, hence almost putting an end to building of ULCC (Ultra Large
Crude Carrier) and VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier).

Fig 1. ULCC (Image credits : Wikipedia)

These tanker ships can be categorised into different types, based on two criteria – Size
and Type of cargo.
Based on size, oil tankers have been categorised into the following types:

1. Small Range (Product) Tanker: 10,000 to 60,000 tons DWT.

2. Panamax Tanker: 60,000 to 78,000 tons DWT.
3. Aframax (Average Freight Rate Assessment) Tanker: 80,000 to 1,20,000 tons
DWT.
4. Suezmax Tanker: 1,20,000 to 2,00,000 tons DWT.
5. VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier): 2,00,000 to 3,20,000 DWT.
6. ULCC (Ultra Large Crude Carrier): 3,20,000 to 5,50,000 DWT.

The classification of oil tankers based on type of cargo is not a clear and fixed
classification, because these are terms used by different nations and organizations
based on their ease of nomenclature.

Some of the most commonly used types of tankers are listed below. We will also
understand, how different types of tankers are designed to carry a specific type of
cargo.

Related

Hazards on oil tanker ships

Product Tankers:
These tankers are designed to carry hydrocarbon products like kerosene, gasoline,
paraffin, etc., chemical products like ammonia, monomers, etc., wines, molasses, etc.
Though, now, chemical tankers, LPG and LNG carriers are classified differently due to
significant uniqueness in their designs as compared to petroleum product tankers.
Product tankers are usually short range coastal tankers, hence are smaller in capacity.
They carry products from processing plants to distribution units.

Image Credits: BoH/wikimedia.org

Crude Oil Carriers:
Crude oil carriers are designed to transport crude oil from rigs to processing units
(refineries). Since the amount of crude oil extracted from offshore drilling platforms is
considerably larger than the amount of products extracted from it, crude oil tankers are
required to be of sizes larger than product tankers. Sizes like that of VLCCs and ULCCs
are only used for crude oil tankers, and these are usually ships that ply on long range
voyages.

Chemical Tankers:
Chemical products like ammonia, palm oil, vegetable oils, monomers, caustic soda,
methanol, etc. These ships have considerable uniqueness in their design, owing to the
special requirements depending on the type of cargo. We will discuss these aspects in a
later part of this article when we discuss design of different tankers. Chemical tankers
are usually categorised into three types:

Type 1: These tankers are designed to carry products that are associated with severe
environmental and safety related hazards. Such products require maximum prevention
of spill.

Type 2: They are also designed for hazardous products, but the extent of severity for
these products is lesser as compared to Type 1.

Type 3: These are designed to carry chemical cargo that requires moderate standards
of containment and pose moderate environmental and safety hazards.

LNG and LPG Carriers:

These ships actually fall under the category of liquefied gas carriers, and a large
number of them are in service to carry liquefied gases in bulk. The number of ships that
carry Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) is however, much more than the number of ships
carrying Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). We shall look into some of their design aspects in
another article to understand what makes them very unique from other types of tankers.

With an overview of the different types of tankers and each of their functionality, we will
now look into the important design aspects of each of them. It is important for you to
keep in mind from now, to observe how every design decision that is made, is directly or
indirectly related to a functional aspect of the ship. We will relate every design aspect
with the inter-related functional or market-based reason that governs it.

Related:

Important points for efficient tanker ship operations

https://youtu.be/c44TSsgQk3Y

Design Aspects of Oil Tankers

Hullform:
The most notable feature of any ship is the geometry and form of its hull. The design of
an oil tanker is a weight-based design, which means, the dimensions of an oil tanker
would be governed by the weight of cargo to be carried. (The other type of design is
volume-based design, where the dimensions of the ship are determined by the volume
of cargo spaces required in the vessel. For example, container ships.)

Since the weight of oil to be carried in a single voyage is to be maximised, it is

preferable to have maximum spaces for cargo oil tanks. Also, oil tankers ply at very low
speeds since the cargo is not perishable. Both the aforementioned factors come
together to determine the full-form shape of an oil tanker. In other words, an oil tanker
would have higher Coefficient of Buoyancy as compared to ships of finer hullform (e.g.
container ships).

Figure 2: Hullforms of oil tanker (full-form) and container ship (fine-form).

Note, in Figure 2, the fullness of the hullform of an oil tanker at the forward part,
compared to that of a container ship. Unlike a streamlined fine hullform, this shape
caters well to low speeds and maximum cargo capacity. However, the blunt forward
shape gives rise to eddy and wave-breaking at the forward part, resulting in increased
wave-breaking and eddy-making resistance.

General Arrangement:
The most important design drawing that is to be studied in order to identify the design of
a ship, is its General Arrangement Drawing. Figure 3 illustrates the profile view of an oil
tanker’s general arrangement. It basically shows the arrangement of all the spaces
within the ship, and gives a frame-by-frame location of every space, bulkheads, and
other primary structures.

Figure 3: General Arrangement (Profile view of a product oil tanker)

Some of the design details of an oil tanker will be well understood by referring to the
profile view. The cargo oil tanks (C.O.Ts) are usually equally sized, and the dimensions
of each are decided by the designer in the initial stage of design, depending on the total
weight of oil to be carried by the ship. The access to each COT is separate, and is
provided by means of rung ladders or hoist-able steps from the main deck.

The main deck of an oil tanker is usually mounted with a network of pipelines that are
used to load and unload cargo oil to and from the ship. Flexible hoses are attached to
the pipelines for completion of the process.

‘Guess Why’ – Bulk carriers have deck-mounted cranes to load and unload cargo.
Some container ships also have deck cranes for loading, unloading and stowage of
containers. But, in-spite of carrying liquid cargo, why do most oil-tankers have at least
one deck crane. Why? Try to reason it out, till we find the answer at some later point in
the article.

The engine room and superstructure, as usual, are located at the aft. But, one notable
feature in oil tankers, that is not found in other types of ships is the pump room, that is
usually located just forward of the engine room. The pump room houses all the pumps
required for cargo oil loading and discharge.
Bulbous Bow:
Today, all tankers are equipped with a bulbous bow, so as to increase the power
efficiency of the ship. Though these are slow speed ships, a bulbous bow reduces the
wave making resistance considerably. However, the shape and geometry of the bulb
differs significantly from those of high speed ships. We will understand how and why.

Figure 4: Three types of bulb shapes (Looking Aft)

There are three basic bulb shapes, when looked from forward to aft of the ship, as
shown in Figure 4. The Delta type bulb has more volume concentrated at the lower half,
than the upper half. This property makes it advantageous to be used in ships that have
frequent changes in waterline, as more concentration of bulb volume at the lower
portion ensures bulb immersion for a larger range of waterlines and loading conditions.

The O-type bulb has maximum volume concentrated at the center. This is used for most
ships that require a cylindrical bow shape, for example- bulk carriers.

The Nabla type bulb is almost shaped like that of a tear-drop, with more volume
concentrated at the top. This shape of bulb is preferred in ships that are to be equipped
with exceptional sea-keeping abilities, for example – warships.

Which of the three above types do you think is most preferred for an oil tanker? In order
to answer that, we will need to look into the functional aspects of an oil tanker. Most
tankers carry cargo only on one leg of their voyage, and the other leg is usually made
on ballast. The ballast waterline of ships is different from the fully loaded waterline,
though the difference is less. But, this frequent alteration in waterline requires the
bulbous bow to be immersed at all loading conditions.

Hence, as quite apparent now, tankers are equipped with delta-type bulbous bow.
Bulbous bow in a tanker is also advantageous because it acts as a ballast space to
control the trim of the vessel in light conditions, thus reducing bow slamming.

Structural Design:
The structural design of oil tankers vary according to the type and size of the tanker. To
understand them, we will study their midship sections in detail.

Small Coastal / Single Hull Tankers:

Most product tankers and coastal tankers are small in size, and are single hull designs,
that is, they do not have a double bottom. However, recent MARPOL (Marine Pollution)
Rules require tankers over 120 m length to be double hulled irrespective of the type of
cargo.

Related:

Single Hull vs. Double Hull Tankers

Figure 4: Three types of bulb shapes (Looking Aft)

A trunk is a raised structure that runs along the length of these ships, and provides
space for access to the cargo oil tanks. The bottom shell, deck plating, and trunk plating
are longitudinally framed to add to the longitudinal strength of the ship. The side shells
are transversely framed, and the reason behind that is a very interesting design aspect:

If the side shells were longitudinally framed, then cargo oil can accumulate on the space
between the stiffeners and the side-shell even after the oil is pumped out (because
pumps do not discharge the entire volume of oil, and some amount of oil always
remains in the inaccessible corners of the tanks). This phenomenon is shown in Figure
6 below, and it has two major effects: One, it leads to contamination of cargo. Two,
prolonged accumulation leads to corrosion of the stiffeners.
 Figure 6: Accumulation of cargo oil on side-shell longitudinal stiffeners.

 
The stringer on the side-shell is usually added to reduce the depth of the transverse
frame, which would otherwise be much higher and reduce the useful volume of the
cargo oil tank.

Brackets are used to create a path for flow of stress from the side shell stiffener to the
deck longitudinal and bottom shell longitudinal. A deep web frame (shown at the right
half of Figure 5) is usually placed at every three or four frame spaces. It is a continuous
structure that runs along the deck plating, side shell plating, bottom plating and
centerline bulkhead. Horizontal stringers run through these deep webs, and help in
reducing the depth of the webs to save cargo space. The span of each longitudinal
stiffener is equal to that of three or four frame spaces, that is, both ends of each
longitudinal stiffener (on deck plating and bottom plating) is welded to subsequent web
frames.

Double Hull Tankers:

All oil tankers of length above 120 m are required to be double hulled, as per MARPOL
rules. Panamax, Aframax, Suezmax, VLCC and ULCC tankers are all double-hulled.
The primary reason for providing two hulls is to prevent the contact of cargo oil with the
external environment in case of any structural damage to the hull.

Figure 7: Midship section of a double hull tanker.

The above figure is the midship section of a double hull tanker. The right half of the
drawing shows an ordinary frame, where the outer and inner hull plates are
longitudinally framed. The centre tank is used for storage of cargo oil, and the wing
tanks or segregated ballast tanks (SBTs) are used for carrying sea water ballast. The
SBTs are epoxy coated so as to prevent corrosion. Do observe that the longitudinal
stiffeners on the wing tank longitudinal bulkhead are placed towards the wing tank, and
not the centre cargo oil tank. Why? In order to prevent oil accumulation on them. The
double bottom spaces are also used for water ballast, and the stiffeners on the inner
bottom plating are always towards the double bottom space.

A deep transverse web frame (left half of the above figure) is given at every three to four
frame spaces in order to provide transverse strength to the ship. The longitudinal
stiffeners are welded to these web frames. Stringers are provided on these transverse
webs to provide further strengthening.

Today, irrespective of the classification society certifying the design of a tanker, the
structural design of double hull tankers is done according to The Harmonised Common
Structural Rules (CSR) for Tankers, by IACS.

Power and Propulsion:

Since tankers are low speed vessels (average maximum cruising speed is 15.5 knots),
and are not restricted by space constraints, they can afford to be run by large slow
speed marine diesel engines. These engines occupy more space than high speed
marine diesel engines, but provided more shaft efficiency, and gearbox losses are
eradicated since the RPM of the engine is same as that of the propeller. Usually, large
diameter and low RPM propellers are used for more propulsive efficiency.

Systems On-board: 
Oil tankers have a number of systems that are unique to its operation. We will discuss
the most important ones in brief.

 Cargo Oil Heating System: Ships carrying crude oil are equipped with this
system, as crude oil is heavy and becomes very sluggish and thick in cold
environments, which can block the pumps and pipelines during discharge. So,
cargo oil heating system is used to maintain the suitable temperatures and
viscosity of cargo oil in holds.
 Cargo Tank Venting System: Did you know that cargo oil tanks are never
pressed full so as to allow space for oil vapour? But, at the same time, these
vapours, being highly inflammable, are not allowed to accumulate in the cargo
tanks. Proper venting systems allow the vapours to escape from enclosed spaces.
 Overflow Control System: This system uses a level and pressure cascade
control to ensure that the level of oil in the tank does not exceed the design head.
High level alarms and spill valves are connected to the system in order to take
correct action in case of anomaly.
 Inert Gas System: The space between the free surface of the cargo oil and the
top plating of the tank is to be kept inert, in order to prevent access of oxygen, so
that even in case of any accumulation of oil vapour, a situation of fire is avoided.
This is done by continuous supply and regulation of inert gas in cargo oil tanks.
The space above the oil surface is ensured to be completely occupied by inert
gas. The most common gases used for this purpose are Argon and Carbon-
dioxide. Know more about Inert Gas System here.
 Fire Fighting System: The fire-fighting systems on board an oil tanker is the
most vital for the ship’s safety, and is designed as per the MARPOL rules. Fire
 hoses, extinguishers and sprinklers are distributed along the ship’s length and
breadth for access to all points. CO2 bottle room just above the engine room to
allow CO2 flooding in the engine room during engine room fire.

Related:

Understanding crude oil washing operation on ships

Important points for committing cargo quantities in tanker ships 

Answer to ‘Guess Why’:  Most oil tankers are provided with at least one deck-crane so
as to handle the cargo oil hoses during discharge and loading of cargo oil, when the
hoses are to be removed from stowage points and connected to the discharge
manifolds on the ship’s deck.

To conclude, though this article does discuss about a lot of design issues and features
of an oil tanker, the scope of this article is limited to a concept design stage. A detailed
study on tanker design can be done by studying on not only the naval architectural
aspects, but also an in-depth study of every system and their operation and interaction
with other systems on board.

Further, a good designer should also be well read in all the MARPOL and HCSR rules
that govern the design of oil tankers today.