Ore-bulk-oil carrier

These are a feature of the larger bulk trades (e.g. crude oil from the Middle East, iron ore and coal from Australia, South Africa and Brazil).

The first OBO carrier was the Naess Norseman, built at A. G. Weser for the company Norness Shipping, controlled by the Norwegian shipowner Erling Dekke Næss.

SKS,[3] part of the Kristian Gerhard Jebsen Group, is today operating the largest OBO-fleet in the world consisting of 10 OBO carriers.

A fleet of smaller, "river-sized" (several thousand tonnes) ore-bulk-oil carriers have also been used for some decades on European Russia's waterways, primarily by Volgotanker.

In September 1980, the MV Derbyshire (180,000 t DWT), carrying a cargo of iron ore from Sept-Îles, Canada to Japan, sank in a Pacific typhoon, becoming the largest British ship ever lost at sea.

The OBO-carrier Maya . The picture is showing both the cargo hold hatches used for bulk and the pipes used for oil