Baltimax

The Danish islands and straits, which limit the Baltimax ship size
General characteristics
Tonnage:	100,000 DWT..205,000 DWT
Length:	240 m (787 ft)..400 m (1,312 ft)
Beam:	42 m (138 ft)..68 m (223 ft)
Height:	65 m (213 ft)
Draft:	15.4 m (51 ft)

Baltimax is a naval architecture term for the largest ship measurements capable of entering and leaving the Baltic Sea in a laden condition.

It is the Great Belt route that allows the largest ships. The limit is a draft of 15.4 metres and an air draft of 65 metres (limited by the clearance of the east bridge of the Great Belt Fixed Link) . The length can be around 240 m and the width around 42 m. This gives a weight of around 100.000 metric ton.

Nevertheless, there are also certain larger ship types plying the baltic sea. Particularly the so-called B-Max-crude oil tanker with more than 205.000 tons deadweight (68 m width, 325 m length)^[1] and the Maersk Triple E class container ship, 400 m length and 165,000 metric tons deadweight.

The Öresund allows only 8 m draft and is no alternative for large ships. The shortcut Nord-Ostsee-Kanal, allows 9,5 m draft.

Furthermore, many ports limit ship size. The iron ore ports of Luleå (11 m,^[2] to be deepened to 13 m^[3]) and Kemi (10 m)^[4] and the large oil port of Klaipėda (12.5 m)^[5] have less draft than Baltimax. The largest oil port is Primorsk which has 15 m draft, similar to Baltimax.^[6] The Northern Port in Gdańsk can take the 300.000 ton 15 m draft ships.

See also

• Ports of the Baltic Sea

References

1. ↑ Stena lines up $900m BMax order
2. ↑ PORT OF LULEÅ, Information for Passenger Vessels
3. ↑ Sandöleden ska bli ännu djupare (Swedish)
4. ↑ Port information Kemi
5. ↑ Astramar Group / Klaipeda Port / Restrictions / Tankers / Klaipedos Nafta
6. ↑ Astramar Group / Primorsk Port / Restrictions / Tankers