The TI class of supertankers comprises the ships ''TI Africa'', ''TI Asia'', ''TI Europe'' and ''TI Oceania'' (all names as of July 2004), where the "TI" refers to the ULCC tanker pool operator Tankers International. The class were the first ULCCs (ultra-large crude carriers) to be built in 25 years. By

displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

deadweight tonnage Deadweight tonnage (also known as deadweight; abbreviated to DWT, D.W.T., d.w.t., or dwt) or tons deadweight (DWT) is a measure of how much weight a ship can carry. It is the sum of the weights of cargo, fuel, fresh water Fresh water or ...

(≈ cargo mass), and

gross tonnage Gross tonnage (GT, G.T. or gt) is a nonlinear measure of a ship's overall internal volume. Gross tonnage is different from gross register tonnage. Neither gross tonnage nor gross register tonnage should be confused with measures of mass or weig ...

(a formula value based on internal volume, not mass), the TI class ships are smaller only than Pioneering Spirit. Compared to the TI class, the Maersk Triple E class

container ship A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermodal ...

s are longer and have a higher cargo volume, including above-deck containers. The previous largest ship, the supertanker ''

Seawise Giant TT ''Seawise Giant''—earlier ''Oppama''; later ''Happy Giant'', ''Jahre Viking'', ''Knock Nevis'', and ''Mont''—was a Oil tanker, ULCC supertanker and the longest self-propelled ship in history. It was built in 1974–1979 by Sumitomo Heavy ...

'', was dismantled in 2010.

History

All four

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

s were constructed for shipping company Hellespont Group by

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Hanwha Ocean Co., Ltd. (), formerly known as Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME; ), is one of the "Big Three" shipbuilders of South Korea, along with Hyundai and Samsung. History On 21 February 2011, the A. P. Moller-Maersk ...

in Okpo,

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, entering service between March 2002 and April 2003. The ships were originally named ''Hellespont Alhambra'', ''Hellespont Fairfax'', ''Hellespont Metropolis'' and ''Hellespont Tara''. In 2004, Belgian shipowner Euronav NV and partners purchased all four ships. ''Hellespont Fairfax'', ''Hellespont Tara'', ''Hellespont Alhambra'' and ''Hellespont Metropolis'' were renamed ''TI Oceania'', ''TI Europe'', ''TI Asia'' and ''TI Africa'' respectively. ''Hellespont Fairfax'' was the subject of

The Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It initi ...

television show A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platf ...

''Superships'', episode "Launching a Leviathan—''Hellespont Fairfax''. ''Hellespont Metropolis'' cost $89 million in 2002, requiring 700,000 man-hours of direct labor.

Features

The class, each ship powered by a single HSD- Sulzer 9RTA84T-D delivering at 76 rpm, possesses a relatively high service speed ( laden, in ballast), which increases their earning capacity. The steel scantlings are greater than the class minimum. These ships are wider than the new Panama Canal locks. They also cannot travel through the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, Indo-Mediterranean, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest ...

unless on a ballast voyage. The coatings in the ballast tanks are protected by two features, a full-time double-scrubbing system supplying drier

inert gas An inert gas is a gas that does not readily undergo chemical reactions with other chemical substances and therefore does not readily form chemical compounds. Though inert gases have a variety of applications, they are generally used to prevent u ...

to the ballast tanks, and also by the white painted upper hull reflecting the sun’s energy. The inert gas system also increases safety. Keeping down the cargo temperatures also minimizes

hydrocarbon In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and Hydrophobe, hydrophobic; their odor is usually fain ...

emissions.

Conversion

In 2009 and 2010, ''TI Asia'' and ''TI Africa'' were converted into sophisticated floating storage and offloading (FSO) vessels, moored off the coast of

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

in the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

at the Al Shaheen Oil Field. The extensive conversions were carried out by EuroNav and Overseas Shipholding Group at Drydocks World – Dubai. In 2017, ''TI Europe'' was chartered by

Statoil Equinor ASA (formerly Statoil and StatoilHydro) is a Norwegian multinational energy company headquartered in Stavanger, Norway. It is primarily a petroleum company operating in 36 countries with additional investments in renewable energy. In th ...

and converted to an FSO vessel, moored at Port of Kuala Sungai Linggi in

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. In 2019, it was announced that ''TI Oceania'' would be converted to an FSO vessel and moored off the coast of

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. Information obtained from IMO GISIS Ship and Company Particulars, MarineTraffic, Euronav and branches, and Subsidiaries of International Seaways 15 February 2020, update Europe ship 8 August 2023, SA Oceania update 4 May 2024.

References

External links

Euronav vessels

Seaways Fleet list

shipspotting.com
Categorized ship photos
''Hellespont'' homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ti Class Supertankers Oil tankers Ships built by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering

History

Features

Conversion

See also

References

External links