Zoroaster oil tanker
Petrolero Zoroaster
- Date
- 1878 · confidence high
- Place
- Baku, Azerbaijan
- Credited to
- Branobel (Nobel brothers); Motala Verkstad shipyard (Sweden)
- Field
- Movement
What it is
An iron-hulled ship with tanks integrated into the hull, built in Sweden to carry Baku oil across the Caspian and up the Volga to Astrakhan. It replaced barrels and drums and is regarded as the first modern oil tanker.
Ships and barges carrying crude existed before (1860s), but the Zoroaster (1878) was the first designed with hull tanks for bulk. The Glückauf (1886) is considered the first modern sea-going tanker.
What it led to
- bulk transport of crude and cheaper Russian oil
- the Branobel fleet in the Caspian, the largest of its time
- the design of ocean-going tankers such as the Glückauf (1886)