Tankers
DeepDraft tanker analysis covers VLCC operations, cargo work, STS, bunkering, crude oil washing, vetting readiness, hull fouling, tanker safety, and practical operational risk from a shipboard and commercial perspective.
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The Deck Seal That Looked Wet
A deck seal can look familiar, be entered confidently in the HVPQ, and still be misunderstood. On this tanker, the answer was not in the casing, but in how the seal water moved when inert gas started flowing.
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CO₂ on Oil Tanker Entry Permits: Safety Requirement or Checklist Overreach?
Inspections are meant to identify risk. They become weaker when they identify wording instead of hazard.
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Fire Wires on Tankers: The Safety Control That Became the Hazard
Fire wires were once treated as tanker safety readiness. Their injury record and limited practical value now raise a harder question: are they control, or legacy risk?
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Bonding Is Not Insulation: The Cargo Transfer Checklist Item Tankers Still Misread
Bonding within a tanker and electrical isolation between ships serve opposite purposes. This article explains the distinction, the static-electricity risk and what officers must physically verify before cargo transfer.
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Similar-Size VLCC STS: The Risk After All Fast
Similar-size VLCC STS is not unsafe by default, but it is less forgiving than it looks.At anchorage, the real risk begins when two hulls stop moving as one controlled system.
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UAE Leaves OPEC: From Quotas to Chokepoints in the New Gulf Crude Map
The UAE’s exit from OPEC is being read as an oil market headline. That is too narrow. For the maritime professional, it may mark a structural shift in the Gulf’s energy geography. It marks the moment where terminal geometry becomes as important as production policy.
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Lessons from the Tanker War of 1980’s: Why Dark Transits Risk Modern Shipowners
Update Note – 11 Mar 2026 – The analysis addressed independent “dark transit” decisions by commercial operators. Military-coordinated escort operations operate under a different risk structure, where navigation and situational awareness are managed by naval command systems.
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India’s EEZ Tanker Detention: AIS and Legal Exposure
Forensic Enforcement and the Master’s Professional Loneliness In early February 2026, the Indian Coast Guard conducted a coordinated sea-and-air operation approximately 100 nautical miles west of Mumbai, detaining three tankers: Stellar Ruby, Asphalt Star, and Al Jafzia.
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Gas Was the Future. VLCC Spot Rates Say Otherwise
Why oil never exited the system, and why markets, not seminars, still decide careers. As a cadet, I was told clearly and confidently that gas was the future. Oil was crowded, old, and something you outgrow.
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Crude Oil Washing Records in ORB Part II: A MARPOL Compliance Trap
During a recent voyage, I noticed a recording practice in the Oil Record Book (Part II) that could quietly put ships at risk of MARPOL non-compliance. Many of us follow the INTERTANKO example for documenting crude oil washing (COW). It’s clean, structured, and widely respected.