Malaccamax

Malaccamax is the largest ship that can transit the Strait of Malacca, limited by the strait’s controlling depth of about 25 meters rather than by a lock. The practical hull is around 333 meters long, 60 meters in beam, and 20.5 meters in draft for roughly 300,000 dwt, leaving safe under-keel clearance in the channel. The class is defined for very large crude carriers on the Middle East to East Asia route, the main artery for tankers serving China, Japan, and South Korea. A ship deeper than the strait must instead route through the Lombok or Sunda straits, adding distance. The earlier container Malacca-max concept proposed a far larger box ship that was never built.