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| | | Tankers and Passenger Ships |
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| | Oil tankers | | |  There are today more than 3,500 oil tankers in operation. They include the world's largest ships, one of which (the Jahre Viking) can carry more than half a million tons of crude oil at a time. Many other tankers are almost as large. Yet as a ship type tankers are relatively new. As late as the middle of the 19th century the only oil transported in large quantities by sea was fuel for oil lamps. Most of this was fish, whale and vegetable oil, but in 1859 an unemployed railway conductor named Edwin Drake was hired to drill for mineral oil at Titusville, Pennsylvania. He struck oil at a depth of 21 metres on 28 August 1859 ' and in a sense the modern age began.
See More... | | | | Chemical tankers | | |  Many of the changes in everyday life that have taken place during the last fifty years have resulted from developments in the chemical industry. A wide range of ordinary items are in fact derived from complex chemical processes, and are often derived from the by-products of the production of energy. Some perfumes and medicines are derived from coal: from oil and gases we obtain fertilizers and plastics, weed killers and detergents, clothing and paints. The greatest advances made in the chemical industry have been made in the last 25 years and one result has been a rise in the demand for raw materials. This in turn has led to a great increase in the maritime transportation of chemicals and the development of specialized ships in which to carry them. The ships that have been built in response to this demand are among the most complex ever constructed. The cargoes they carry often present tremendous challenges and difficulties from a safety point of view and many chemicals are also a far greater pollution threat than crude oil.
See More... | | | | Passenger ships | | |  In 1950 passenger ships were the largest, fastest and most glamorous vessels afloat. The trans-Atlantic route between Europe and North America was the most prestigious route of all with great liners competing for the fastest crossing ' the Blue Riband. Other passenger services operated between Europe and South America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand and were used in particular by emigrants leaving post-war Europe for a new life on the other side of the world.
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