I’m doing some research to back up a pet theory of mine, and I need to know what it costs to build a supertanker. The things can’t be cheap, of course, but they can’t be as expensive as a couple of billion dollars either. Anyone know? (And yes, I know, if I have to ask I can’t afford one. :rolleyes: You’re funny, now lets move on.)
It’s in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The Exxon Valdez cost $130 million to build in 1986, for example (Cite). The cost has probably gone up since then, because of bigger ships and more strict construction standards.
I don’t know about a new one. Apparently the world fleet is aging (average age is around 20 years). In about 1990, Jorgen Jahre bought the Jahre Viking, the world’s largest, for $39MM.
Earlier this week I noticed a beat up '72 model going for $225,000.
Here is a site which mentions that the cost of the Oshima Bridge in Japan - about 29 billion yen - is about the equivalent of 4 VLCCs (Very Large Crude Carriers). This would be in the rough neighborhood of US$231 million, or about $58 million each. Here is a .pdf pamphlet or something which mentions a contract of $330 million to build 4 VLCCs (~82.5 million ea.). And, here is an article which mentions two South Korean VLCCs which were to be acquired (which sounds like they would be built) for about $65.2 million each. And, based on this html version of a .pdf article, the current going rate for a Korean VLCC is over $76 million (if I read that correctly).
So, it would seem the average cost is somewhere between $58 million and about $85 million, depending on who’s doing the building, and just how big the tanker is.