Malaccamax
Malaccamax is a naval architecture term for the largest tonnage of ship capable of fitting through the Strait of Malacca. Bulk carriers and supertankers have been built to this tonnage, and the term is chosen for very large crude carriers. They can transport oil from Arabia to China. A typical Malaccamax tanker can have a maximum length of, beam of, draught of, and tonnage of 300,000 DWT.
Similar terms Panamax, Suezmax and Seawaymax are used for the largest ships capable of fitting through the Panama Canal, the Suez Canal and Saint Lawrence Seaway, respectively. Aframax tankers are those with a deadweight tonnage of 80,000 to 120,000.Problems
Some Chinamax and most Capesize and very large crude carriers cannot pass this strait. Ships such as Suezmax and Neopanamax can pass. Any post-Malaccamax ship would need to use even longer alternate routes because traditional seaways such as the Sunda Strait, between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra would become too shallow for large ships. Other routes would therefore be required:
Artificially excavated new routes might also be a possibility:
- deepening the Strait of Malacca, specifically at its minimum depth in the Singapore Strait,
- the proposed Kra Canal, which however would take much more excavation.
