Oldendorff Centenary Book - Flipbook - Page 250
The world
tanker fleet
stood at some
86 million
tdw as of
1 January 1965.
The 1956 Suez crisis set the scene
for new dimensions. In those days
a laden 50,000 tonner could transit
the Suez Canal, but when the canal
was blocked, shipowners flooded
the shipbuilding industry with orders
for larger newbuildings. The actual
construction of a 100,000 tonner no
longer posed serious problems, but
adequate building berths had to be
provided, with building docks being
preferred to sloping slipways since
they eliminate the risk of buckling
as the ship goes down the ways.
The UNIVERSE APOLLO, built for
account of the then tanker tycoon
Daniel K. Ludwig, at 106,190 tdw was
the first ship to exceed the 100,000
tdw mark, but her time at the top of
the list was limited. Forty thousand
invited guests witnessed the naming
ceremony of the 90,187 tdw tanker
ESSO DEUTSCHLAND, sponsored by
Mrs Wilhelmine Lübke, spouse of the
President of the Federal Republic
of Germany, in 1963, one of the first
tankers to have the engine room
and the deckhouse aft. The TEXACO
CUMBRIA, completed one year later,
was the first tanker without the
customary catwalk but instead had
an alleyway below deck. Ship and
engine construction techniques
made great strides forward in
the 1960s. Problems of structural
strength had been overcome, as
had those associated with water
resistance and buoyancy, the latter
by the development of the bulbous
bow which at the same time reduced
bunker consumption. Efficient largebore diesel engines took the place
of the turbine and section building
techniques cut newbuilding prices
and delivery times of large tankers.
Freight rates had slumped for a
number of years. The world tanker
246
fleet stood at some 86 million tdw
as of 1 January 1965, of which 17.5
million tdw flew the flag of Liberia
and 13.1 million that of Norway.
The Federal Republic of Germany
ranked No. 14 with 1.449 million
tdw. Tankers exceeding 200,000
tdw came on-stream from 1966
onwards, and by August 1967 a total
of 64 units of over 200,000 tdw
were on order or under construction.
The newbuilding boom continued
as the Suez Canal lost its previous
pre-eminent position for tankers.
In the Persian Gulf trade small
tankers below 50,000 could no
longer compete with larger ships.
Not long after the war the Persian
Gulf replaced the United States
as the world’s most important oil
production region. Oil loading ports
around the Arabian Sea now took
the lead. Supertankers were given
another boost by the Near East crisis
of 1967 and the second closure of
the Suez Canal. The keel was laid
of the 477,000 tdw tanker GLOBTIK
TOKYO in 1973. A worldwide tanker
building boom followed years of
relative abstinence, fuelled by
strong demand. Tankers earning
their staggering purchase price in
a matter of ten voyages were not
exactly the order of the day, but
they did exist and were not the
stuff of modern fairy tales. Now
that numerous VLCCs were under
construction, some European
shipyards prepared to construct
Ultra Large Crude Carriers (ULCCs).
The surge of motorisation, fuelguzzling cars, the demise of the
steam era, the rapid change-over
to diesel propulsion and the
expanding petro-chemical industry
all seemed to herald a glorious
future for tanker shipping.
