Glossary

Aframax:

Crude oil tanker or product tanker too large to pass through the Panama Canal and below 120,000 dwt.

AHTS:

Anchor Handling Tug Supply. Offshore vessel used for jobs such as the relocation of oil rigs and anchors of the oil rigs.

API:

American Petroleum Institute

API Gravity:

An arbitrary scale expressing the gravity or density of liquid petroleum products. The measuring scale is calibrated in terms of degrees API. The higher the API gravity, the lighter the compound. Light crudes generally exceed 38 degrees API and heavy crudes are commonly labeled as all crudes with an API gravity of 22 degrees or below.

Barrel:

A volumetric unit measure for crude oil and petroleum products equivalent to 42 U.S. gallons, or approximately 159 liters.

BHP:

Break Horse Power. The amount of engine horsepower.

Propeller in the front of the ship enabling it to turn sideways without forward momentum.

Brent:

Term used for crude oil from the North Sea. Brent oil is traded at the International Petroleum Exchange in London, and the price of Brent is used as a benchmark for several other types of European oil.

Bulk vessel:

Description of vessels transporting large cargo quantities, including coal, iron ore, steel, grain, gravel, oil, etc.

Bunker:

Fuel for vessels

Capesize:

Dry bulk carrier of more than approximately 80,000 dwt; too large to pass through the Panama Canal.

Cbm:

Cubic Meter.

Ceu:

Car equivalent unit. Unit of measurement indicating the car carrying capacity of a vessel.

Cgt:

Compensated Gross Tonnage. International unit of measurement that facilitates a comparison of different shipyards' production regardless of the types of vessel produced.

CIRR:

Commercial Interest Reference Rate – for further details, see the OECD website.

Clean products:

Refers to light, refined oil products such as jet fuel, gasoline, diesel oil and naphtha. 

CoA:

Contract of Affreightment. Contract between shipping company and charterer concerning the freight of a predetermined volume of goods within a given period of time and/or at given intervals.

Coating:

The internal coatings applied to the tanks of a product tanker. Coated tanks enable the ship to transport corrosive refined oil products and it facilitates extensive cleaning of the tanks, which may be required in the transportation of certain oil product types. 

Container conference:

Collaboration agreement between a number of container shipping lines on trade routes or regions for the purpose of enhancing efficiency of the vessel capacity and harmonizing price/teu.

Dirty products:

Refers to heavy oils such as crude oil or refined oil products such as fuel oil or bunker oil.

DP:

Dynamic Positioning. Special instruments on board that in conjunction with bow thrusters and main propellers enable the ship to position itself in a fixed position in relation to the seabed

Dwt:

Dead Weight Tons. International unit of measurement that indicates the loading capabilities in metric tonnes of the particular vessel, including the weight of crew, passengers, stores, bunkers etc.

Feeder:

Small container carrier.

FPSO:

F(P)SO: Floating (Production) Storage Offloading Unit. Ship used as substitute for a conventional oil platform at oil fields that are either to deep in the ground or to small to justify the use of a conventional oil platform. If the ship is an FPSO the ship has oil (or gas) processing capabilities.

Geared:

Indicates that a vessel is equipped with a crane or other lifting device.

Gearless:

Indicates that a vessel is not equipped with a crane or other lifting device.

Gravity:

Volume weight ratio of a substance calculated against the same volume of water at normal temperature and pressure.

Gt:

Gross Tons. Unit of 100 cubic feet or 2.831 cubic meters, used in arriving at the calculation of gross tonnage.

Handy, tank:

Crude oil tanker, product tanker or chemical tanker of between 10,000 and 25,000 dwt

Handymax, dry cargo

Dry bulk carrier of between approximately 40,000 and 60,000 dwt.<

Handysize, dry cargo

Dry bulk carrier of between approximately 10,000 and 40,000 dwt.

IMO:

International Maritime Organization. {0>Søfartsorganistion under FN.<}96{>A maritime organization under the UN, www.imo.org

IMO I-III:

Quality grades for tankers for the permission to transport different chemical and oil products. IMO I are the most hazardous products, IMO III the least hazardous.

Chemical tanker:

Tanker with coated or stainless steel tanks (IMO I-III).

LNG vessels:

Liquefied Natural Gas. Vessels for transporting liquefied natural gas (methane gas).

Lo-Lo:

Lift on – Lift off. Cargo carrying vessel that has its cargo lifted on and/or off. This type of ship may also have passenger carrying capacity (Pax-Lo) and/or Ro-Ro features (Ro-Lo).

LPG vessels:

Liquefied Petroleum Gas. Vessels used to transport ammonia and liquid gases (ethane, ethylene, propane, propylene, butane, butylenes, isobutene and isobutylene).The gases are transported under pressure and/or refrigerated.

LR1, product tanker:

Long Range 1. Product tanker with the maximum dimensions for passing through the Panama Canal (width of 32.21 meters and length of 289.5 meters) of approximately 50,000—80,000 dwt.

LR2, product tanker:

Long Range 2. Product tanker too large to pass through the Panama Canal of approximately 80,000 dwt.

Mbtu:

Million British Thermal Unit. Unit of measurement indicating the amount of energy included – equivalent to joule or calorie.

Medium, tanker (MR):

Medium Range. Product tanker of between 25,000 and 50,000 dwt.

MMboe:

Million Barrels of Oil Equivalent. Measure of the amount of barrels of oil/gas contained in a field.

Multi-Purpose:

Dry bulk carrier with multiple applications, mainly as a feeder vessel or for special cargo.

Nautical Mile:

Distance unit measure of 1,852 meters, or 6,076.12 ft.

Offshore vessel:

Vessel serving the offshore oil industry.

OPEC:

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Panamax, container:

Container carrier with the maximum dimensions for passing through the Panama Canal (width of 32.21 metres, length of 291 metres) of approximately 3,000—5,000 teu

Panamax, tanker:

Crude oil tanker or product tanker with the maximum dimensions for passing through the Panama Canal (width of 32.21 metres and length of 289.5 metres) of approximately 50,000—80,000 dwt.

Panamax, dry cargo:

Dry bulk vessel with the maximum dimensions for passing through the Panama Canal (width of 32.21 metres and length of 289.5 metres) of approximately 60,000—80,000 dwt.

PCC:

Pure Car Carrier. Car carrier built exclusively to transport passenger cars.

PCTC:

Pure Car Truck Carrier. Car carrier built to transport small and large passenger cars (SUVs, MPVs, etc.), trucks and other contractor equipment.

Post-Panamax:

Container vessel of approximately 4,000+ teu that is too large to pass through the Panama Canal.

Product tanker:

Tanker vessel with coated tanks used to transport refined oil products.

PSV:

Platform Supply Vessel. Offshore vessel serving the offshore oil installations.

Reefer:

Container vessel with cooling/freezing capacity.

Reefer vessel:

Bulk carriers with a large reefer capacity in the holds.

Ro-Con:

Ro-Ro vessel with container capacity

Ro-Pax:

Ro-Ro vessel with passenger capacity.

Ro-Ro:

Roll On – Roll Off. Common description of vessels on which the cargo is rolled on board and ashore.

ROV-Support Vessel:

Ship with Remotely Operated Vehicle (a robot) used e.g. to inspect underwater cables and pipes.

Seismic Vessel:

Ship with on board sound and electromagnetic instruments for gauging the structure of the layers in the ground.  The results are used as a tool to best decide where the oil and gas formations are located in the ground.

Semi-submersible:

A semi-submersible is a self-propelled drilling rig, capable of lowering the well deck below the water's surface.

Stand-by vessel:

Offshore vessel used to monitor and fight fires and environmental accidents on oil rigs.

Suezmax:

Crude oil tanker with the maximum dimensions for passing through the Suez Canal (approximately 120,000—200,000 dwt.).

Teu:

Twenty Feet Equivalent Unit. Container boxes with a length of 20 feet (about 6 metres) which forms the basis of describing the capacity of a container vessel.

Ton-nautical mile:

Unit of measurement indicating the volume of cargo and how far it has been transported.

Tonnage:

Synonymous with “vessel”.

ULCC:

Ultra Large Crude Carrier. Crude oil tanker above 320,000 dwt.

Vetting:

Approval procedure whereby e.g. the technical standards of a ship are surveyed.

VLCC:

Very Large Crude Carrier. Crude oil tanker of between approximately 200,000 and 320,000 dwt.

VLGC:

Very Large Gas Carrier. LPG ship with capacity above 60,000 cbm.

WTI:

West Texas Intermediate. Oil price benchmark in the USA.