Vegetable oil shipping · tanker & liquid bulk
Charter a tanker for your vegetable oil cargo.
Sunflower, palm, soybean and corn oil in bulk. CharterDeck's AI reads your oil's requirements against each tanker's declared particulars (previous cargoes, coating, heating, position and laycan), so unsuitable ships drop out early. Your broker confirms the open points with the owner and negotiates the fixture.
- Previous cargoes first
- Tankers whose declared last cargoes include one your contract bans are set aside before an offer goes out.
- Heating where it matters
- Oils carried warm are matched against the heating each ship declares.
- Broker-confirmed
- Whatever the particulars do not show, your broker confirms with the owner before fixing.
How AI narrows the tankers for an edible oil parcel
An edible oil parcel is more easily lost to contamination than to a late ship. CharterDeck's AI compares what your oil needs with what each tanker declares, and hands your broker the candidates with the open questions marked:
- Checks each tanker's declared previous cargoes against the cargoes your contract bans, and flags a ship whose cargo history is missing
- Compares the tank coating or material your oil requires with the coating the ship declares; an unknown coating is marked for the broker, never assumed
- Matches a heating requirement to the ship's declared heating coils and maximum cargo temperature
- Works out whether the parcel fits by volume, using the oil's density when you give it, and whether the ship can keep your grades apart
- Checks the ship's open position and ballast against your laycan
Previous cargoes and tank cleanliness
Residues of earlier cargoes can stay in a tank's coating or in places that are hard to clean, so edible oil trades restrict what a tank may have carried before. FOSFA contracts refer to a list of banned immediate previous cargoes or, by agreement, to a list of acceptable ones, and the lists in force on the bill of lading date apply. The EU and other destinations keep their own lists, so the discharge country matters as well as the contract.
The right ship type for the oil
Under the IBC Code, many vegetable oils are listed for chemical tankers of IMO ship type 2. A flag state can exempt some of them for ship type 3 tankers under MARPOL Annex II, on conditions. What a ship may load is written on its certificate of fitness, so the certificate decides, not the ship's name or its type label.
Heating and carriage temperature
Oils do not all travel the same way. Palm oil and its fractions are kept warm in transit and heated before discharge, while soybean, sunflower and rapeseed oil are usually carried at ambient temperature and warmed for pumping when the weather is cold. The Codex code of practice for edible oils in bulk sets out temperature ranges oil by oil, and your buyer's contract may add its own.
Tank material and coating
The Codex code prefers stainless steel tanks, especially for fully refined oils, and accepts coated mild steel, for example with phenolic epoxy; zinc silicate coatings can harm crude oils with a high acid value. Copper and its alloys are kept out of tanks, lines and heating coils because they speed up oxidation. Which coating suits your oil depends on its grade and on the contract.
Have an edible oil parcel to move? Send it with its previous-cargo requirements and we will check the tankers against them.
Send your cargoWhere the oil moves
Ukraine and Russia ship most of the world's sunflower oil exports, and USDA expects those exports to grow in the 2026/27 season on larger crops. Türkiye both imports and exports sunflower oil, and palm oil is shipped mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia. From our Istanbul desk we work the Black Sea and Mediterranean side of the trade most closely.
Which tankers suit an edible oil parcel
The ship follows from the oil, the number of grades and the ports, not the other way round:
| Parcel | Often suits | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| One oil, one or two grades | A chemical or oil/chemical tanker certified for the oil | Previous cargoes and coating condition |
| Several oils or grades | A parcel tanker with segregated tanks, lines and pumps | Enough segregations for every grade |
| Short-sea or small-port parcels | A coastal or small chemical tanker | Terminal limits and heating capacity |
What your broker needs to find ships and quote
- The oil and its grade, e.g. crude degummed sunflower oil or refined palm olein
- Quantity and tolerance, and whether it is stated in tonnes or cubic metres
- Load and discharge ports or ranges
- Laycan
- The previous-cargo list your contract uses: FOSFA banned or acceptable, or the destination's own
- Carriage and discharge temperature, if the oil needs heating
- Number of grades, and whether they must be kept apart
- Terminal requirements you already know, such as ship acceptance or manifold size
What moves the freight
- Tanker size and type, and demand for coated tonnage at the time
- Ballast from the ship's last discharge to your load port
- Cleaning needed to bring the tanks from the previous cargo to your oil
- Heating, where the oil must be kept warm
- The number of grades and segregations the ship must keep
- Crush and export seasons in the origin, which move demand for tonnage
- Load and discharge terms, and the laytime and demurrage terms
How a vegetable oil fixture runs with CharterDeck
- You send the requirement, in a minute with the form or as you would circulate it
- Our AI structures it, screens suitable ships and compares the voyage economics
- Your broker reviews the shortlist with you and checks every point the AI has flagged
- Your broker works the owners and negotiates freight and terms
- The recap is issued from the agreed terms, and the voyage is followed to discharge
Questions, answered
- Which previous cargoes rule a tanker out for vegetable oil?
- It depends on the list your contract names. FOSFA terms ban certain immediate previous cargoes, an optional clause limits them to an acceptable list, and destinations such as the EU keep their own lists. We check each tanker's declared last cargoes against the banned cargoes you give us; your broker checks an acceptable-list requirement and asks the owner for the history where it is missing.
- Does my vegetable oil need heating on the voyage?
- Not always. Palm oil and its fractions are carried warm and heated before discharge; oils such as sunflower or soybean usually travel at ambient temperature. Tell us the carriage and discharge temperatures your buyer needs, and we propose tankers that declare the heating for it, with any gap flagged for your broker.
- Can several oils or grades go on one tanker?
- Yes, on a ship with enough segregated tanks, and with separate lines and pumps where the grades must not touch. Give us the number of parcels and any segregation rules, and the AI sets aside ships that declare too few segregations.
- Does vegetable oil need a chemical tanker?
- Often. Many vegetable oils are listed in the IBC Code for IMO ship type 2, and some may go on a type 3 ship under a flag-state exemption. The ship's certificate of fitness shows what it may load, and your broker confirms it for your oil before fixing.
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Matched in seconds, negotiated by a broker
Send us a cargo or an open vessel. Our system matches it in seconds, and your broker comes back with the best options.