MarAd: vessel sizes up, “smooth transition” to double-hull tankers
MarAd: vessel sizes up, “smooth transition” to double-hull tankers
A U.S. Maritime Administration report found the average size of vessel arriving at U.S. ports is larger and double-hull tankers are rapidly entering the market.
The report, “Vessel Calls at U.S. Ports, 2003,” found that between 1999 and 2003 the number of vessel calls increased slightly, while the average ship size increased 10 percent.
The largest ports of call for vessels cited in the report were Los Angeles-Long Beach, Houston and New York. These ports accounted for 27 percent of all vessel calls to the United States.
MarAd also said a 64-percent increase in double-hull tanker calls at U.S. ports during the past four years is “evidence of the smooth transition” to double-hull mandate of the 1990 Oil Pollution Act.
The MarAd report provides five years of data (1999 to 2003) on calls, size and capacity of ships calling at U.S. ports, and is the third in a series. Additional information is available online at http://www.marad.dot.gov/marad_statistics.