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Two ships moored at El Ballah during a suez canal transit.

Suezmax is a naval architecture term for the largest ships capable of fitting through the Suez Canal fully loaded, and is almost exclusively used in reference to tankers. Since the canal has no locks, the only serious limiting factor is draft (maximum depth below waterline).

The current channel on the canal allows for 16 m (53 ft) of draft, meaning many supertankers are of too deep a draft to fit through. Currently, the canal is being deepened to 18 - 20 m.

The typical displacement of a Suezmax ship is 150 000 tons. Of note is the head room limit of 68 meters by the Suez Canal bridge. There is also a width limitation of 70,1 meters, but only a handful of tankers exceed this size, and they are excluded from Suez by their draft in any case. The canal authority produces tables of width and acceptable draught, which are subject to change.

Improvements are envisaged so that in 2010, the maximum draught will increase to 22 m, in order to allow supertankers. At the moment, supertankers must discharge part of their cargo at the entry of the channel to reload it other side, transported along the way by pipeline.

Similar terms of Panamax and Seawaymax are used for the largest ships capable of fitting through the Panama Canal and Saint Lawrence Seaway, respectively.The on-line resource facility Oyster Assets Ltd (www.oysterassets.com) covers all the main shipping markets with latest news updates and provides an on-line portal which allows listings for shipbrokers and ship owners who are in the market selling ships including Suezmax tankers.

• Capesize
• Seawaymax
• Handymax
• Handysize
• Panamax
• Aframax
• Suezmax
• Malaccamax
• VLCC an oil tanker size classification
• ULCC an oil tanker size classification

General Types of Modern Merchant Ship
Dry Cargo Ships • Bulk carrier • Container ship • Reefer ship • RORO Ship • Tankers • Chemical tankers • Coastal trading vessel • Passenger ship • Cruise ship • Ferry • Cable layer • Tugboat •  Dredger •  Barge •  Panamax • Capesize • Seawaymax • Handymax • Handysize • Aframax • Suezmax • Malaccamax • VLCC • ULCC

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