Suezmax

Two ships moored at El Ballah during a Suez Canal transit.

Suezmax is a naval architecture term for the largest ships capable of transiting the Suez Canal fully loaded, and is almost exclusively used in reference to tankers. Since the canal has no locks, the only serious limiting factor is draft (maximum depth below waterline).

The current channel depth of the canal allows for a maximum of 16 m (53 ft) of draft, meaning many fully laden supertankers are too deep to fit through, and either have to unload part of their cargo to other ships ('transhipment') or to a pipeline terminal before passing through, or alternatively avoid the Suez Canal and travel around the Cape of Good Hope instead. Currently, the canal is being deepened to 18–20 m.

The typical deadweight of a Suezmax ship is about 150,000 tons and typically has a beam (width) of 46 m (151 ft). Also Of note is the head room limit of 68 meters by the Suez Canal bridge. There is also a width limitation of 70.1 meters (230 ft), but only a handful of tankers exceed this size, and they are excluded from Suez by their draft in any case. The canal authority produces tables of width and acceptable draft, which are subject to change.

Improvements are envisaged so that in 2010, the maximum draft will increase to 22 m, in order to allow supertankers. At the moment, supertankers must discharge part of their cargo at the entry of the channel and reload it at the other end, transported along the way by pipeline.

Similar terms of Panamax, Malaccamax and Seawaymax are used for the largest ships capable of fitting through the Panama Canal, the Straits of Malacca and Saint Lawrence Seaway, respectively.