Engineering:Shuttle tanker

Shuttle tanker Karen Knutsen in the 7th Petroleumharbour in the port of Rotterdam.

A shuttle tanker is a ship designed for oil transport from an off-shore oil field as an alternative to constructing oil pipelines. It is equipped with off-loading equipment compatible with the oil field in question. This normally consists of a taut hawser arrangement or dynamic positioning to maintain the position relative to the field, an off-loading arrangement of pipes, and redundant safety systems to ensure that the potentially flammable crude oil is handled safely in a harsh environment.

Shuttle tankers initially started operating in the North Sea. They are now in use also in Brazil , and trials have been carried out in Gulf Of Mexico. There are plans to take up such operation in the Arctic Sea, north of western Russia .