Tanker

Tanker, ship designed to carry liquid cargo in bulk, notably crude oil, gasoline, or natural gas. The first tanker (1886), a 300-ft (90-m) vessel, carried 3,000 tons (272 metric tons) of oil. Some tankers today hold 100 times as much: a 483,939-ton (439,029-metric ton) vessel (the Globtik London, 1975) has been built in Japan. Ships this size greatly reduce per-ton transport costs but cannot enter many ports; some large tankers transfer their cargo to smaller tankers offshore. In gross tonnage tankers account for over a third of all merchant shipping.