Very Large Crude Carrier

The Very Large Crude Carrier sits near the top of the tanker size ladder and is the backbone of the long-distance crude oil trade. With a deadweight in the region of 200,000 to 320,000 tonnes, a single VLCC can lift around two million barrels of crude on one voyage, which gives it a low cost per barrel over long distances and makes it the vessel of choice for moving oil from major exporting regions such as the Middle East to refineries in Asia, Europe and beyond. Above the VLCC is the even larger Ultra Large Crude Carrier, or ULCC, though relatively few of those remain in service.

The size classes of tankers grew out of the trades and the waterways they use. Aframax and Suezmax vessels are named for the Average Freight Rate Assessment and for the largest size able to transit the Suez Canal, while VLCCs are generally too large for laden canal transit and often load and discharge at offshore terminals or single-point moorings rather than at conventional berths, because few ports have the depth to take them alongside fully loaded.

Because of their size and cargo, VLCCs are built and operated to demanding standards. They have double hulls under MARPOL, segregated ballast tanks, inert gas systems and crude oil washing, and their sheer scale means long stopping distances and large turning circles that make ship handling, pilotage and passage planning especially careful work. Their earnings are famously volatile, swinging with the balance of oil demand, refinery patterns and the number of ships available, so the VLCC market is watched closely as a barometer of the crude trade. Storing crude aboard idle VLCCs even becomes a floating-storage business when onshore tanks fill and prices favour it.