Capesize bulk carrier at Suez Canal Bridge

"Suezmax" is a

naval architecture Naval architecture, or naval engineering, is an engineering discipline incorporating elements of mechanical, electrical, electronic, software and safety engineering as applied to the engineering design process, shipbuilding, maintenance, and ...

term for the largest ship measurements capable of transiting the Suez Canal in a laden condition, and is almost exclusively used in reference to tankers. The limiting factors are beam,

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a ves ...

, height (because of the

Suez Canal Bridge The Suez Canal Bridge, also known as the Egyptian–Japanese Friendship Bridge, Al Salam Bridge, Al Salam Peace Bridge or Mubarak Peace Bridge, is a road bridge crossing the Suez Canal at El-Qantara, whose name means "the bridge" in Egyptian Ar ...

), and length (even though the canal has no locks).

Description

The current channel depth of the canal allows for a maximum of of draft, meaning that a few fully laden

supertanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined c ...

s 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

Cape Agulhas Cape Agulhas (; pt, Cabo das Agulhas , "Cape of the Needles") is a rocky headland in Western Cape, South Africa. It is the geographic southern tip of the African continent and the beginning of the dividing line between the Atlantic and Indi ...

instead. The canal was deepened in 2009, increasing the draft from . The typical deadweight of a Suezmax ship is about 160,000 tons; the typical beam (width) is about . Also of note is the maximum head room—"

air draft Air draft (or air draught) is the distance from the surface of the water to the highest point on a vessel. This is similar to the " deep draft" of a vessel which is measured from the surface of the water to the deepest part of the hull below th ...

"—limitation of , resulting from the height above water of the

Suez Canal Authority Suez Canal Authority (SCA) is an Egyptian state-owned authority which owns, operates and maintains the Suez Canal. It was set up by the Egyptian government to replace the Suez Canal Company in the 1950s which resulted in the Suez Crisis. After ...

produces tables of width and acceptable draft, which are subject to change. From 2010, the wetted surface cross sectional area of the ship is limited by , which means of draft for ships with the beam no wider than or of draft for ships with maximum allowed beam of . The similar terms

Panamax Panamax and New Panamax (or Neopanamax) are terms for the size limits for ships travelling through the Panama Canal. The limits and requirements are published by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) in a publication titled "Vessel Requirements". ...

, Malaccamax, and Seawaymax are used for the largest ships capable of fitting through the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a Channel ( ...

, the

Strait of Malacca The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, 500 mi (800 km) long and from 40 to 155 mi (65–250 km) wide, between the Malay Peninsula (Peninsular Malaysia) to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, conn ...

and

Saint Lawrence Seaway The St. Lawrence Seaway (french: la Voie Maritime du Saint-Laurent) is a system of locks, canals, and channels in Canada and the United States that permits oceangoing vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes of North Ameri ...

, respectively. The term "

Chinamax Chinamax is a standard of ship measurements that allow conforming ships to use various harbours when fully laden, the maximum size of such a ship being draft, beam and length overall. An example of ships of this size is the ''Valemax'' bulk c ...

" refers to vessels able to use a number of harbours while fully laden. "

Capesize Capesize ships are the largest dry cargo ships with ball mark dimension: about 170,000 DWT (deadweight tonnage) capacity, 290 m long, 45 m beam (wide), 18m draught (under water depth). They are too large to transit the Suez Canal (Suezmax lim ...

" refers to

bulk carrier A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo — such as grains, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement — in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, ec ...

s too big to pass through the Suez Canal—and needing to travel the Cape route around the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is ...

and

—but recent dredging means many Capesize vessels can use the canal. Plans to deepen the draft to could lead to a redefinition of the Suezmax specification, as happened to the Panamax specification after deepening and widening of the Panama Canal. Aframax is a freight rating, not a geographic routing limiter, for tankers are those with a capacity of to .

Container ships

Vessels longer than 400 meters need permission from the

to transit the canal. As of 2020, the largest container ships in service all have a length of (close to) 400 meters, and a beam and draft that fit just within the limits of the canal. The ship

Ever Given ''Ever Given'' () is one of the largest container ships in the world. The ship is owned by Shoei Kisen Kaisha (a ship-owning and leasing subsidiary of the large Japanese shipbuilding company Imabari Shipbuilding), and is time chartered and op ...

, which ran aground in the Suez Canal in 2021, has Suezmax size with 399.9 meters length and 58.8 meters beam.

References

External links

Ship sizes
{{Ship measurements Ship types Max, Suezmax Tankers Ship measurements

Description

Container ships

See also

References

External links