Editing Merchant ship (section)

====Tanker====
{{Main|Tanker (ship)}}
[[Image:Supertanker AbQaiq.jpg|right|thumb|Crude oil [[supertanker]] ''AbQaiq'']]
A tanker is a [[ship]] designed to transport [[liquids]] in bulk. Tankers can range in size from several hundred [[tonnage|tons]], designed to serve small harbours and coastal settlements, to several hundred thousand tons, with these being designed for long-range haulage. A wide range of products are carried by tankers, including:
* [[hydrocarbon]] products such as [[Petroleum|oil]], [[Liquified petroleum gas|LPG]], and [[Liquefied natural gas|LNG]]
* [[Chemical substance|chemicals]], such as [[ammonia]], [[chlorine]], and [[styrene|styrene monomer]]
* [[fresh water]]
* [[wine]]

Different products require different handling and transport, thus special types of tankers have been built, such as [[chemical tanker]]s, [[oil tanker]]s, and [[Gas carrier|gas carriers]].

Among oil tankers, [[supertanker]]s were designed for carrying oil around the [[Horn of Africa]] from the [[Middle East]]; the FSO ''[[Knock Nevis]]'' being the largest vessel in the world, a ULCC [[supertanker]] formerly known as ''Jahre Viking'' (Seawise Giant). It has a deadweight of 565,000 metric tons and length of about {{Convert|458|m|ft|sp=us|sigfig=2}}. The use of such large ships is in fact very unprofitable, due to the inability to operate them at full cargo capacity; hence, the production of [[supertankers]] has currently ceased. Today's largest oil tankers in comparison by gross tonnage are ''TI Europe'', ''TI Asia'', ''TI Oceania'', which are the largest sailing vessels today. But even with their deadweight of 441,585 metric tons, sailing as VLCC most of the time, they do not use more than 70%  of their total capacity.

Apart from [[pipeline transport]], tankers are the only method for transporting large quantities of oil, although such tankers have caused large environmental disasters when sinking close to coastal regions, causing [[oil spill]]s. See {{MV|Braer||2}}, ''[[Erika (tanker)|Erika]]'', ''[[Exxon Valdez]]'', ''[[Prestige (ship)|Prestige]]'' and {{SS|Torrey Canyon||2}} for examples of tankers that have been involved in oil spills.