Suezmax

This article does not cite any references or sources. (June 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Two ships moored at El Ballah during a Suez Canal transit.

Suezmax is a naval architecture term for the largest ships capable of transiting the Suez Canal fully loaded, and is almost exclusively used in reference to tankers. Since the canal has no locks, the only serious limiting factor is draft (maximum depth below waterline).

The current channel depth of the canal allows for a maximum of 16 m (53 ft) of draft, meaning many fully laden supertankers are too deep to fit through, and either have to unload part of their cargo to other ships (\'transhipment\') or to a pipeline terminal before passing through, or alternatively avoid the Suez Canal and travel around the Cape of Good Hope instead. Currently, the canal is being deepened to 18–20 m.

The typical deadweight of a Suezmax ship is about 150,000 tons and typically has a beam (width) of 46 m (151 ft). Also of note is the maximum head room - \'air draft\' - limitation of 68 meters, which is the height above water of the Suez Canal Bridge. There is also a width limitation of 70.1 meters (230 ft), but only a handful of tankers exceed this size, and they are excluded from Suez by their draft in any case. The canal authority produces tables of width and acceptable draft, which are subject to change.

Suez Canal Bridge or Mubarak Peace Bridge

Improvements are envisaged so that in 2010, the maximum draft will increase to 22 m, in order to allow supertankers. At the moment, supertankers must discharge part of their cargo at the entry of the channel and reload it at the other end, transported along the way by pipeline.

Similar terms of Panamax, Malaccamax and Seawaymax are used for the largest ships capable of fitting through the Panama Canal, the Straits of Malacca and Saint Lawrence Seaway, respectively. Aframax tankers are those with a deadweight tonnage of 80,000 to 120,000.

Nautical Portal

v • d • e Modern merchant ships
Dry Cargo:	Bulk carrier · Container ship · Reefer ship · RORO Ship · Barge
Tankers:	Oil tanker · Chemical tanker · Coastal trading vessel
Passenger:	Cruise ship · Cruiseferry · Ferry
Non transport:	Cable layer · Tugboat · Dredger · Fishing vessel
Panamax · Capesize · Seawaymax · Handymax · Handysize · Aframax · Suezmax · Malaccamax · VLCC · ULCC

This article related to water transport is a stub. You can help by expanding it.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia