A tanker should spend as short a time as possible in port handling cargo.¹⁾

In the crude and product trades the majority of charter parties require a tanker to discharge its entire cargo within 24 hours.The restrictions on the speed that a liquid can be pumped through a pipe are the viscosity of the cargo, the diameter of the pipe, the number of bends in the pipe and the height of the receiving tanks, all of which will affect the back pressure. Thus, for fast cargo handling, large-diameter, straight pipelines are preíerred, with reception tanks as close as possible to the ship.²⁾