deadweight tonnage

American  

noun

Nautical.

1. the capacity in long tons of cargo, passengers, fuel, stores, etc. deadweighttons, of a vessel: the difference between the loaded and light displacement tonnage of the vessel.

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Example Sentences

A shadow fleet of vessels that transports this sanctioned oil has ballooned to a fifth of global deadweight tonnage, data from maritime journal Lloyd’s List shows.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 12, 2026

Maritime Commission computes new ship construction in deadweight tonnage?*

From Time Magazine Archive

Shipping Board, with a total deadweight tonnage of 3,017,238.

From Time Magazine Archive

Of these, 325, representing a total deadweight tonnage of 1,941,875, were delivered during that twelve-month period.

From Time Magazine Archive

This gives us a total of more than one thousand four hundred ships with an approximate total deadweight tonnage of 7,000,000 now under the control of the United States Shipping Board.

From History of the World War An Authentic Narrative of the World's Greatest War by March, Francis Andrew