A peek at life aboard a 1,100-foot-long VLCC tanker
The future of U.S. crude oil exports will be aboard Very Large Crude Carriers.
More commonly known as VLCCs, the supertankers can carry 2 million barrels of crude oil in a single shipment, making them ideal for exports. More than 700 VLCC tankers are traversing the world’s oceans, according to the shipping arm of energy intelligence firm S&P Global Platts.
Measuring nearly 1,100 feet long and more than 10 stories high, I got a peek at life aboard a VLCC tanker when the “Aral” docked at Moda Midstream’s crude oil export terminal in Ingleside on Jan. 25. Owned by Belgian shipping crude oil tanker company Euronav, the Aral left Singapore just after Thanksgiving. Because the ship was too large to go through the Panama Canal, the Aral traveled more than 50 days across the Indian Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa and across the Atlantic Ocean before reaching the Corpus Christi Ship Channel.
The Aral is clean and well-lit. The hallways and common areas are immaculate. Crew members spend weeks and months at sea. When they’re not maintaining the ship and monitoring its cargo, they get to enjoy the ship’s amenities
The Aral has a crew of about two dozen men from India and Russia. During their off hours, crew members can go the gym, the library or an entertainment room where they can play games or watch satellite television in a variety of languages. Satellite Wi-Fi and telephone services enable crew members to surf the Internet, get on social media and make calls to loved ones.
The supertanker’s galley is also stocked with a wide variety of foods that reflect the crew’s tastes and the ports of call that they have made.
During the Jan. 25 visit, the Aral’s Russian-born captain, Andrey Losev, showed some warm hospitality by treating visitors to egg rolls, sandwiches and other snacks. Coca-Cola, Sprite and other soft drinks from Singapore were served alongside apple, mango and other fruit juices from India and other exotic locations.
A warm beverage station was stocked with Nescafé products from Europe, Chinese teas and a brand of mango coffee with the packaging written in Arabic.
When arriving a new port, crew members get their passports ready and a customs officer comes aboard after they dock. In the United States, tanker crew members are given 29 days to remain in the country. Most port calls last less than week. Crew members usually have limited time between loading and unloading duties to go shopping at a local Walmart or eat at local restaurants or visit a doctor, if needed.
When visiting ports various ports of call, members of the crew try to read or watch the local media in the local language. The voyage to Ingleside was no different. A visit to the supertanker’s bridge revealed that the crew had obtained a copy of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times newspaper. VLCC tankers like the Aral are expected to become a more common sight along the Texas coast. S&P Global Platts estimates that there are 100 VLCC tankers on order in shipyards across the world, meaning that they will become increasingly important in moving crude oil across the globe.
The Aral left the Ingleside terminal on Jan. 26 with about half its cargo of crude because the Corpus Christi Ship Channel is too shallow to accommodate a fully loaded VLCC.
Just a couple days after the tour, a second vessel met the Aral in the deeper waters of the Gulf of Mexico and loaded the rest. The Aral then left for a refinery in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, where it was expected to arrive on Valentine’s Day.