Sanko Unity, an Ultra Large Crude Carrier (ULCC) carrying over 290,000 tonnes of crude oil, anchored in Falmouth Bay on Monday to load 4,600 tonnes of bunker fuel oil.

The mega ship is on passage from the Southwold anchorage, off the east Anglian coast, where she loaded from smaller feeder tankers, to Singapore. Bunkering operations are expected to finish this morning.

The 333-metre long ULCC has a beam of 60 metres and a loaded draught of 21 metres. Even three miles offshore silt from the seabed came to the surface as the leviathan went astern on her powerful engines before anchoring.