Cargo Calculation Terms

CARGO CALCULATIONS ON A OIL TANKER

NOTES BY:
CAPT. PARVINDER SINGH BHATIA
CARGO CALCULATION TERMINOLOGY
FREE WATER (Vfw):
• The volume of water present in a tank which is
not in suspension in the contained liquid at
observed temperature.

ONBOARD QUANTITY (O.B.Q):

• Quantity of water, oil, slops, residue, sludge or
sediment, remaining in the tanks prior to
loading.
TOTAL OBSERVED VOLUME (T.O.V.):
• The Total Observed Volume of all Petroleum Liquids and Free Water at
GROSS OBSERVED VOLUME (G.O.V.):

• The Total Volume of all Petroleum Liquids, excluding Free Water at
• G.O.V. = T.O.V. - Vfw (at observed temperature)
GROSS STANDARD VOLUME (G.S.V.):

• The Total Volume of all Petroleum Liquids, excluding Free Water,
corrected by appropriate Volume Correction Factor for the observed
temperature and API Gravity 60º F, Relative Density 60º F / 60º F or
Density 15º C.
• G.S.V. = G.O.V. X V.C.F.
TOTAL CALCULATED VOLUME (T.C.V.):
• It is the Gross Standard Volume plus Free Water.
• T.C.V. = G.S.V. + Vfw
TOTAL RECEIVED VOLUME (T.R.V.):

• Is equal to the Total calculated Volume minus O.B.Q.
• Weight Correction Factor (W.C.F.) is applied to this Volume to obtain Weight in Metric Tons or
Long Tons.
• Shore Gross B/L figure is to be compared with this figure.
• Whenever Free Water is found in Cargo: T.R.V. = T.C.V. - O.B.Q.
LOADED OIL WEIGHT:

• Is equal to the Gross Standard Volume minus O.B.Q.
• Weight Correction Factor is applied to this Volume to obtain weight in Metric Tons or Long
Tons.
• Shore Gross B/L figure is to be compared with this figure when no Free Water is found in
Cargo.
• LOADED OIL WEIGHT = (G.S.V. - O.B.Q.) W.C.F.
Volume and Weight
Volume changes with

Temperature but the
Weight remains the
same.
WEIGHT
1. Units of weight:
• Metric Ton
• Long Ton
• Short Ton
2. In Air or in Vacuum:
• Apart from the units, Weight is measured in Air or in Vacuum.
• Even though on ships, it is more common to measure the cargo weights in the air,
sometimes Charterers give the requirements for measuring weight in Vacuum.
• For stability and draft calculation, weight in air is used.
• The weight in Vacuum is always more than the weight in Air because, like with
water, air (and any other medium in which the weight is present) would offer some
kind of buoyancy which reduces the weight.
• In the Vacuum, there is no buoyancy and hence the weight is more than the same
weight when measured in air.
Converting Weight in
Vacuum to Weight in Air
and vice-versa
The first page of

the ASTM Table
56 provides the
factor for
converting
Weight in
Vacuum to
Weight in air and
vice versa.
BASIC CARGO
CALCULATIONS
•Measure ullage (or Sounding)
of the tanks by UTI tape to get
OBSERVED ULLAGE.
•Measure the temperature of
the cargo preferably at three
levels and take the mean of
these three temperatures to get
the temperature of the cargo.
•Apply UTI correction and TRIM
correction to get CORRECTED
ULLAGE.
•The volumes for each of these
tanks for the corrected ullage
will be the Volume at the
•As the density also changes
with the temperature, we
would need the density of the
cargo at the cargo temperature
to convert the observed volume
to weight.
BASIC CARGO
CALCULATIONS
Calculation of the weight of cargo in
different situations:
1.Density at a particular temperature
and correction factor (method mostly
used for calculation of chemical
cargoes.):
•Suppose the provided values are:
Density at 25 Deg C: 0.9155 and
Density correction factor: 0.0006 per
Deg C.
•For every degree rise in temperature,
the density would decrease by 0.0006.
(Temp is inversely proportional to
density).
•Density at 31 Deg C would be: 0.9119
•Apply these densities to get the
weight of cargo in each tank and thus
the total weight of the cargo.
BASIC CARGO
CALCULATIONS
2. Table of densities at
different temperatures
(method mostly used for
calculation of chemical
cargoes):
•Suppose a table of densities at
different temperatures is
provided:
•Take the density of the cargo
to the corresponding cargo
temperature.
•Apply these densities to get
the weight of cargo in each tank
and thus the total weight of the
cargo.
•If the cargo temperature is
between two values in the
density table, interpolate to
the get the density at the
desired temperature.
BASIC CARGO
CALCULATIONS:
3. Density at 15 Deg C and ASTM
(American Society for Testing and
Materials) table to use (Used for
petroleum products and crude oils):
ASTM tables give the Volume
correction factors (VCF) to find the
volumes at temperature for which the
density is given.
•The one with letter A is for crude oils
and the one with letter B is for
product oil. ASTM tables without any
letter are common for both crude oils
and product oils.
•Suppose the density at 15 deg C as

0.816 and ASTM table 54B to be used.
•Go to ASTM table 54 and look under
density@15 C of 816.0 and
temperature 34.0 Deg C.
•So as we can see for temperature 34
Deg C, the volume correction factor is
0.9830.
•Similarly, we need to find the VCF for
cargo temperatures of other tanks.
BASIC CARGO
CALCULATIONS
•When the VCF is applied to
the volumes at observed
temperature, we get the
volumes at 15 Deg C which is
also called “Standard
Volume”.
•Stability calculations need
the weight of the cargo in
each tank and not the
standard volume.
•The density at 15 Deg C is
always the density in
Vacuum. So if simply multiply
this density with standard
volume, we get the weight in
Vacuum.
BASIC CARGO
CALCULATIONS
•To convert the weight in vacuum
to weight in the air, use ASTM
table 56.
•OR
•Convert the density in Vacuum to
density in Air by simple formula:
Density in Air at 15 deg C =
Density in Vacuum at 15 deg C –
0.0011.
•This is weight correction factor
(WCF).
•In this case, density in vacuum at
•15 deg C is 0.8160.
•The WCF would be:
•0.8160 – 0.0011 = 0.8149.
•Multiply WCF to the standard
volume, to get the weight of
cargo in Air.
BASIC CARGO
CALCULATIONS
4. API Gravity at 60 Deg F
and ASTM Table to use:
•US Ports do not use the

metric system and hence
do not use density.
Instead, API gravity at 60
Deg F, temperature in Deg
F and Volume is measured
in Barrels.
•1 US Barrel = 6.2898 X Cum.
•Deg F = 1.80 X Deg C + 32.
BASIC CARGO
CALCULATIONS
•Use ASTM table 6B, with
provided API gravity at 60
Deg F and observed
temperature in the tank to
get the VCF (Volume
correction factor).
•Suppose the provided API
gravity at 60 F to be 66.
•From table 6B, the volume
correction factor for API at
60 Deg F of 66.0 and
temperature 95 Deg F is
0.9748.
BASIC CARGO
CALCULATIONS
•Get the VCF
(Volume correction
factor) for other
required
temperatures.
•Multiply the
volume at observed
temperature with
VCF, to get the
standard volume at
60 Deg F.
BASIC CARGO
CALCULATIONS
List of ASTM tables to get the
WCF for the known API at
60 Deg F.
•ASTM Table 9: To get the
WCF to convert Barrels at 60
Deg F to Short Ton in the air.
Deg F to Long Ton in the air.
Deg F to Metric Ton in the air.
EXAMPLE: In the ASTM table
13, for the API gravity 66, the
WCF (which is given as Tonnes
per Barrels) = 0.11362.
BASIC CARGO
CALCULATIONS
Apply WCF to
the standard
volume to get
the weight of
cargo in the air.
BASIC CARGO
CALCULATIONS
Other ASTM Tables
•Use ASTM table
54 (54A for crude
oils and 54B for
products) for VCF
and
•Table 56 for WCF
when provided
with density at
•15 C.
BASIC CARGO
CALCULATIONS
In Ports where API
gravity at 60 F is
provided:
•Use ASTM Table 6
(6A for crude oils
and
6B for products) for
VCF.
and
ASTM tables 9, 11 or
13 for WCF.
BASIC CARGO
CALCULATIONS
•To calculate the weight of the cargo
with ASTM table 6 (6A or 6B), we
need to have API gravity at 60F
provided to us.
•But what if we are provided with
API gravity at some other
temperature, say at 80 deg F?
•Then there is ASTM table 5 (5A for
crude oils and 5B for products) that
can be used to convert API at any
temperature to API at 60 Deg F.
•Similarly, ASTM table 53 (53A for
crude oils and 53B for products) can
be used to convert density at some
temperature to the density at 15
Deg C.
•ASTM table 3 for converting API at
60 Deg F to Density at
15 Deg C.

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CARGO CALCULATIONS ON A OIL TANKER

ONBOARD QUANTITY (O.B.Q):

GROSS OBSERVED VOLUME (G.O.V.):

GROSS STANDARD VOLUME (G.S.V.):

TOTAL RECEIVED VOLUME (T.R.V.):

LOADED OIL WEIGHT:

Volume changes with

The first page of

•Suppose the density at 15 deg C as

•US Ports do not use the

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