Tanker

The history of the crude oil tanker, from its earliest beginnings during the last days of sail to the modern leviathans, is one dominated by two factors - sheer scale and safety.The modern industrialised world is dependent each day on thousands of tons of crude oil, which in turn is converted into the petrol and petrochemicals upon which our transport systems, businesses and homes rely, and it is the huge bulk oil tankers that carry this precious commodity around the world. Today, the world's demand for oil is as insatiable as ever and there are more than 3,500 tankers in operation and they include the world's largest ships, one of which (the Jahre Viking) can carry more than half a million tons of crude oil at a time. With each decade tankers have grown larger and the impact of an accident ever more disastrous on the environment. Political and economic events have also impacted on the industry, so that story of the tanker is both a complex and fascinating one. With a superb collection of colour and black and white illustrations and photographs this book explains how the design and construction of tankers has been affected as much by environmental concerns as by hard-nosed economic requirements. It looks at the different classes of tankers, from supertankers down to the coastal vessels, and explains how oil is handled and stored; how tanks are cleaned and how the transportation of the commodity has made millions for some of the world's astutest ship owners. With the world's focus on the Middle East and on global warming this is indeed a timely book which will appeal as much to the general reader as to the ship enthusiast and professionals in the industry.