Supertanker FPMC C Melody Arrives at Texas City Terminal to Load Crude

Photo courtesy Joe Downs

A supertanker that has been scheduled to load crude oil at Enterprise Products Partners LP’s Texas City marine terminal for export arrived was escorted into port on Thursday. 

The Very Large Crude Carrier, FPMC C Melody, was expected to load about 1.1 million barrels, a little more than half the tanker’s 2-million-barrel capacity. 

The VLCC has been anchored near Houston since last Saturday, according to AIS ship tracking data. 

We are told the FPMC C Melody was maneuvered into port with four pilots embarked and accompanied by multiple harbor tugs before mooring at Texas City’s Dock 12. 

The FPMC C Melody measures 330m in length by 60m in width and has a deadweight of 299,000 metric tons. 

In April, the VLCC Nave Quasar arrived at Enterprise’s Texas City terminal to test for future VLCC loadings at the terminal.

The water depth at the terminal, however, at just 45 feet currently, will only allow for partial loadings of VLCCs. 

Another VLCC, named Anne, conducted a similar test-loading at the Port of Corpus Christi in May. 

Last February, the Lousiana Offshore Oil Port, commonly known as the LOOP, completed the first crude oil loading of a VLCC for from the United States. 

Located in deeper water 18 miles offshore of Port Fourchon, Louisiana, the LOOP is the only U.S. port currently capable of fully loading VLCCs.

A second supertanker laden with U.S. crude loaded at the LOOP set sail in March.

Here’s a time-lapse of the FPMC C Melody’s arrival: