Tankers, barges and fuel trucks: Overview
The ships, barges, trucks and cans that move liquid fuel
What this tile covers Ships, barges, rail tank cars, road tankers and cans that move liquid fuels. Share of use 26% share of world energy carried (2025)Share of world total energy supply (592 EJ in 2024, Energy Institute Statistical Review 2025, physical energy content) carried at least once by this mode; overlaps allowed, so shares do not add to 100 (calculated) Seaborne oil trade was 79.8 million b/d in the first half of 2025, about 76% of world oil supply (US EIA), applied to 199 EJ of oil (Energy Institute, 2024). Road tankers deliver most fuel to filling stations as well, so the true share is higher; overlaps with pipelines. Source: World Oil Transit Chokepoints, US Energy Information Administration.
Key facts
| Form | Liquid fuel |
Included from the reference tables
- VLCC, ULCC, product and chemical tankers
- River and canal barges
- Rail tank cars and road tankers
- Drums, jerrycans and cans
- Airborne refuelling (military)
Linked to the material world
Oil Crude oilAlso in Liquid and gaseous fuels
OP Oil and product pipelinesGP Gas pipelines and city gasLNG LNG chainLPG CNG, LPG and biogas distributionH2T Hydrogen and hydrogen carriersExplore paths from here
More on this tile in the tabs above: how it works, efficiency and losses, technology advances, value chain, geopolitics and regulation, unit economics, impact on the biosphere.