Crude oil carriers of 20 000 tons deadweight and above shall be fitted with a crude oil washing arrangement complying with MARPOL 73/78 Annex I, Reg. 33 and Reg. 35.
Crude oil carriers (Tanker for Oil) less than 20 000 tons deadweight, fitted with a crude oil washing arrangement complying with design requirements in the specifications , may be assigned the special feature notation COW.
The advantage of doing COW is two fold:
It reduces the ROB after discharging by 60% and thus more cargo is discharged to the buyer. For VLCCs this quantity can go upto 1000tons.
Since more quantity of cargo is discharged at the discharge port, more quantity of cargo can be loaded in the loading port and thus increases the earning capacity of the vessel.
