Do Oil tankers have a hull full of oil or just loads of barrels ?
Tankers have massive tanks inside the hull which hold the product in liquid form. Each tank can be the size of a small house and hold thousands of barrels. Tanks are usually separated by bulkheads into center tanks (along the centerline) and wing tanks (along the sides of the hull) to improve the stability of the vessel. The product is pumped out of the tanks either through a central pumproom or from pumps deep within the tank. Since the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 the U.S. Coast Guard has mandated that tankers calling on the U.S. are constructed according to the double-hull design; there are serious doubts as to whether this requirement adds anything in the way of spill prevention, but it makes people happy because “two hulls are better than one.” The really fun part of working on tankers is when the crew has to descend into the tanks and clean them by hand after an initial spray by pressure washing machines (it is my belief that it takes years off of your life).
