Aframax

File:Gerd Knutsen in Brest.jpg

The Aframax tanker Gerd Knutsen at the wharf in Brest.

File:TorbenSpirit-SingaporeAnchorage-20050906.jpg

The Aframax tanker Torben Spirit at anchor in the outer anchorage at Singapore.

An Aframax ship is an oil tanker smaller than 120,000 metric tons deadweight (DWT) and with a breadth above 32.31 m. The term is based on the Average Freight Rate Assessment (AFRA) tanker rate system. Aframax class tankers are largely used in the basins of the Black Sea, the North Sea, the Caribbean Sea, the China Sea and the Mediterranean. Non-OPEC exporting countries may require the use of Aframax tankers because the harbors and canals through which these countries export their oil are too small to accommodate very-large crude carriers (VLCC) and ultra-large crude carriers (ULCCs).