Ship Science and Engineering
Ship Types and Individual Vessels glossary
The catalog of vessel designs classified by cargo, mission, and size: bulk carriers, container ships, crude, product, and chemical tankers, gas carriers, general cargo and multipurpose vessels, Ro-Ro and PCTC, reefers, and passenger and specialized types. Includes the market size taxonomy (Handysize through Capesize, MR through VLCC, Feeder through ULCV) and individual vessels identified by IMO number with particulars, class notation, flag, and operator.
156 defined terms.
A
- Aframax tanker
- Crude tanker of 80,000-120,000 DWT.
- AHT (Anchor Handling Tug)
- Tug specialized for anchor handling.
- AHTS (Anchor Handling Tug Supply)
- Offshore tug for rig anchor handling and supply.
- Aircraft carrier (CV/CVN)
- Naval aviation vessel.
- Alaska-class container ship
- Container ship adapted for Alaskan trade.
- Articulated Tug Barge (ATB)
- Tug rigidly connected to a barge.
- Asphalt/Bitumen tanker
- Heated tanker for bitumen and asphalt.
- Auto carrier (PCC/PCTC)
- Pure car or pure car/truck carrier.
- Aviation training vessel
- Naval helicopter/UAV training ship.
B
- Baltimax
- Largest size able to navigate the Baltic.
- Barge carrier (LASH/BACAT)
- Lighter Aboard Ship vessel.
- Bay-class patrol vessel
- Royal Australian/UK patrol class.
- Beamy bulker (Kamsarmax)
- 80,000-85,000 DWT Panamax-derived bulker.
- Beluga F-Class
- Heavy-lift project carrier (historic).
- Black-oil tanker (HFO)
- Bunker tanker.
- BoBo (Roll-Lift)
- Combined Ro-Ro/lift ship.
- Bulk carrier (Handysize, Handymax, Supramax, Ultramax, Panamax, Kamsarmax, Post-Panamax, Capesize, Newcastlemax, VLOC, Chinamax)
- Size taxonomy of dry-bulk carriers.
- Bunkering tanker
- Small tanker delivering fuels in port.
C
- Cable layer
- Specialized vessel for laying submarine cables.
- Capesize
- Bulker >150,000 DWT too large for Suez/Panama traditionally.
- Car carrier (PCC/PCTC)
- Pure car or pure car-truck carrier.
- Cellular container ship
- Container ship with cell guides.
- Chemical tanker
- IMO Type 1/2/3 chemical tanker per IBC Code.
- Chinamax
- Bulker ~400,000 DWT designed for iron ore trade with China.
- Coastal tanker
- Small tanker for coastal trade.
- Combination carrier (OBO, OO, COMBO)
- Ore/Bulk/Oil carriers.
- Container feeder
- Smaller box ship 1,000-3,000 TEU.
- Container ship sub-classes
- Feeder, Feedermax, Panamax, Post-Panamax, New-Panamax, ULCV.
- Crew Transfer Vessel (CTV)
- Offshore wind crew boat.
- Crude oil tanker
- Aframax, Suezmax, VLCC, ULCC.
- Cruise ship
- Passenger cruise vessel.
D
- Dive Support Vessel (DSV)
- Saturation diving support.
- Dredger (TSHD, CSD, BHD, BD)
- Trailing suction, cutter, backhoe, bucket.
- DSV (Dive Support Vessel)
- Subsea diving support ship.
- Dynamic Positioning vessel (DP-1/2/3)
- Vessel rated by DP redundancy.
E
- Ecopaxx VLCC
- Hyundai's eco-design VLCC concept.
- Eel barge
- Live-fish barge.
- Emma Maersk
- 15,500 TEU container ship, world record holder on delivery.
- Ever Ace
- 23,992 TEU ULCV.
- Ever Given
- 20,124 TEU ULCV (Suez 2021 incident).
F
- Feeder container ship
- 100-3,000 TEU container ship.
- Feedermax
- 2,000-3,000 TEU feeder.
- Ferry (Ro-Pax)
- Roll-on/roll-off passenger ferry.
- Fishing support vessel
- Mothership for fleet.
- Fishing vessel (trawler, seiner, longliner)
- Various fishing types.
- Floating Crane
- Heavy-lift crane vessel.
- Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO)
- Oil/gas production unit.
- Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU)
- LNG import unit.
- Floating Storage Unit (FSU)
- Permanent storage tanker.
- Forest products carrier
- Open-hatch general cargo for paper/timber.
- FPSO (Petrojarl/Sevan/circular)
- Various FPSO types.
- Frigate
- Naval combatant smaller than destroyer.
G
- Gas carrier (LNGC, LEG, LPGC, FGC)
- IGC types.
- Geared bulk carrier
- Bulker with cargo cranes.
- General cargo ship (Tweendecker)
- Multipurpose ship with tween decks.
- Geneseemax
- Bulker for Welland Canal.
- Globe-class container ship
- 19,100 TEU Maersk class.
- Globemax (Wallenius)
- Auto carrier with extra capacity.
H
- Handymax/Supramax
- 40,000-65,000 DWT bulker.
- Handysize bulker
- 10,000-40,000 DWT bulker.
- Heavy-lift ship (Dockwise type)
- Semi-submersible heavy transport.
- High-Speed Craft (HSC)
- 2000 HSC Code vessel.
- Hopper dredger (TSHD)
- Trailing suction hopper dredger.
- HOS-class supply vessel
- Hornbeck offshore class.
- Houseboat
- Residential floating craft.
I
- Ice-class tanker (Arc7)
- Arctic LNG/oil tanker (e.g., Christophe de Margerie).
- IMO Type II chemical tanker
- Most common chemical tanker type.
- Inland tanker (Type C)
- ADN classified inland tanker.
- Integrated Tug Barge (ITB)
- Notched ITB combination.
J
- Jumbo container ship
- Marketing term for ULCV class.
- Jumboised tanker
- Tanker lengthened with mid-body insert.
K
- Kamsarmax
- 80,000-85,000 DWT bulker.
- KCS (KRISO Container Ship)
- 3,600 TEU benchmark hull.
- Knock Nevis (Seawise Giant/Mont)
- Largest ship ever built, 564,763 DWT ULCC (broken up 2010).
- KVLCC2
- KRISO Very Large Crude Carrier benchmark hull.
L
- Lake Freighter (Laker)
- Self-unloading Great Lakes bulker.
- LASH carrier
- Lighter Aboard Ship.
- LCT (Landing Craft Tank)
- Amphibious landing craft.
- LEG (Liquefied Ethylene Gas) carrier
- Semi-refrigerated ethylene carrier.
- Light Aircraft Carrier (CVL)
- Smaller naval carrier.
- LNG bunker vessel
- Dedicated LNG bunkering ship.
- LNG carrier (LNGC)
- Membrane or Moss-type LNG carrier.
- LNG-fueled bulker
- LNG-fueled dry bulker.
- LOA (vessel particular)
- Length overall.
- Logger (forest products carrier)
- Open-hatch GP carrier.
- LPG carrier (FR/SR/PR)
- Fully refrigerated, semi-refrigerated, fully pressurized.
- LR1/LR2 tanker
- Long-range product tanker, ~75k/115k DWT.
M
- Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller
- First Triple-E unit, 2013.
- Maersk Triple-E
- 18,300 TEU container ship class.
- Malaccamax
- Largest size able to transit the Malacca Strait, ~330 m draft constrained.
- Marpolemax
- Informal term for vessels constrained by MARPOL limits.
- Methanol-fueled feeder (Stena Germanica)
- First methanol-converted ferry.
- Mini bulker (1,500-10,000 DWT)
- Small bulker.
- MR (Medium Range) tanker
- 30,000-55,000 DWT product tanker.
- MR1/MR2
- Product tanker subclasses 25k-45k / 45k-55k.
- Multipurpose vessel (MPV)
- General cargo with heavy lift capability.
N
- Newcastlemax
- Largest Capesize able to enter Newcastle (NSW) port.
- NewPanamax/Neopanamax
- Vessels fitting expanded Panama Canal locks.
- NoorderZon class
- Heavy lift specialized vessel.
O
- Offshore Construction Vessel (OCV)
- Vessel for subsea installation.
- Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV)
- Coast guard patrol vessel.
- Oil/Bulk/Ore carrier (OBO)
- Combination carrier.
- Open-Top Container ship
- Cellular ship without hatch covers.
- Ore carrier (VLOC, Valemax)
- Very large ore carrier 380,000-400,000 DWT.
P
- Panamax bulker
- 60,000-80,000 DWT bulker.
- Panamax container ship
- Up to 5,100 TEU pre-2016.
- Passenger ship (SOLAS)
- Vessel carrying >12 passengers per SOLAS.
- PCTC (Pure Car Truck Carrier)
- Vehicle carrier with strengthened decks.
- Pilot vessel
- Small craft for pilot transfer.
- Pipe Layer (S-lay, J-lay, Reel-lay)
- Pipe laying vessel classes.
- Polar Class 1-7
- Ice-class notation per IACS Polar Code.
- Post-Panamax bulker
- 80,000-110,000 DWT bulker.
- Product tanker
- Tanker for refined petroleum products.
Q
- Q-Flex LNG carrier
- 210,000 m3 Qatari LNG carrier.
- Q-Max LNG carrier
- 266,000 m3 LNG carrier (Mozah class).
R
- Reefer ship
- Refrigerated cargo ship for fruit/meat.
- Research vessel (RV)
- Oceanographic research ship.
- Ro-Pax (Ro-Ro Passenger)
- Combined cargo/passenger ferry.
- Ro-Ro (Roll-on Roll-off)
- Wheeled cargo vessel.
S
- Sailing ship (training)
- Square-rigged training ship.
- Salvage vessel
- Vessel equipped for marine salvage.
- Seawise Giant
- ULCC, later Knock Nevis/Mont, scrapped 2010.
- Seismic survey vessel
- 3D/4D seismic vessel with streamers.
- Self-discharging bulker (SD)
- Bulker with conveyor self-unloader.
- Semi-submersible heavy lift
- Float-on/float-off heavy lift ship.
- Service Operation Vessel (SOV)
- Wind farm service vessel.
- Shuttle tanker (DP)
- DP2 tanker for offshore loading.
- Small Bulk Carrier (Mini)
- <10,000 DWT bulker.
- St. Lawrence Seawaymax (Seawaymax)
- Max size for the St. Lawrence Seaway.
- Stena IceMAX
- Drillship class.
- Suezmax
- Tanker ~150,000-160,000 DWT, largest for Suez Canal pre-deepening.
- Supramax/Ultramax
- 50,000-65,000 DWT bulker.
- Survey vessel
- Hydrographic or geophysical survey ship.
T
- Tanker types (Chemical IMO I/II/III, Crude, Product, Bitumen, Shuttle, Bunker)
- Tanker sub-types.
- Tug (harbor, ASD, ATD, RotorTug)
- Tug types.
- Tweendecker
- General-cargo ship with intermediate decks.
U
- ULCC (Ultra Large Crude Carrier)
- >320,000 DWT crude tanker.
- ULCS/ULCV (Ultra Large Container Vessel)
- >14,500 TEU container ship.
- Underwater research submarine (MIR)
- Deep-sea research submersible.
- Universal bulk carrier
- Generic dry-bulk carrier without geared specification.
V
- Valemax
- 400,000 DWT VLOC built for Vale/China iron ore trade.
- Vessel particulars (LOA, LBP, B, T, GT, NT, DWT)
- Standard vessel descriptors.
- VLCC
- Very Large Crude Carrier, 200,000-320,000 DWT.
- VLGC
- Very Large Gas Carrier, ~84,000 m3 LPG.
- VLOC
- Very Large Ore Carrier, 200,000-400,000 DWT.
W
- Warship (DDG, FFG, LHA)
- Naval combatant types.
- Well-stimulation vessel
- Offshore vessel for well stimulation.
- Whaling vessel
- Specialized fishing/factory vessel.
- Wind-farm Installation Vessel (WIV)
- Jack-up for turbine installation.
- Wood-chip carrier
- High-cubic open-hatch bulker.
X
- X-bow OSV (Ulstein)
- OSV/PSV with X-bow hull form.
Y
- Yacht (M/Y, S/Y)
- Motor/Sailing yacht.
- Yangtzemax
- Largest vessel able to navigate Yangtze River.
Z
- Z-drive tug (Z-Peller)
- Tug with azimuth thrusters.
- Zeebruggemax
- Largest vessel fitting Zeebrugge locks (informal).