Chemical Tanker
A Chemical Tanker is a highly specialised tanker built to carry bulk liquid chemicals — acids, alcohols, vegetable oils, solvents and a huge range of industrial liquids. Because these cargoes are often corrosive, reactive, toxic or sensitive to contamination, chemical tankers have many independent tanks made of stainless steel or with specialised coatings, each with its own pump and piping, so numerous different products can be carried simultaneously without mixing.
Often called parcel tankers for their ability to carry many separate small cargoes, they are subject to strict rules under the IMO IBC Code, which classifies ships as IMO Type 1, 2 or 3 by the hazard of cargoes permitted. Tank cleaning between cargoes is demanding and critical. Chemical tankers require sophisticated cargo handling, segregation and safety management, and serve the global chemicals and specialty-liquids trade. They are among the most complex and technically demanding ships to operate, a distinct high-value niche in the tanker sector.
Chemical tankers are the most complex ships in the tanker world — dozens of segregated stainless tanks carrying reactive, corrosive or contamination-sensitive liquids under strict IMO codes. That complexity makes them a high-value, technically demanding niche serving the chemicals trade, and understanding them rounds out the picture of how liquids move by sea.
Why do chemical tankers have so many tanks?
To carry many different chemicals simultaneously without mixing — each segregated tank has its own pump and piping (hence "parcel tanker").
What is the IBC Code?
The IMO code governing chemical tankers, classifying them as Type 1, 2 or 3 by the hazard of the cargoes they may carry.