Research for 2000

Tanker tonnage and the numbers of tankers available to support U.S. forces in wartime are projected for 1990, 1995, 2000, and 2010. The key finding of the analysis is that the supply of tankers will fall far short of estimated Department of Defense (DOD) requirements. This rapid shrinkage of tankers is deemed likely because domestic crude oil production is projected to decline substantially, and because additional pipeline construction is underway. If DOD continues to rely on the Ready Reserve Force to fill the shortfall in numbers of available tankers, by the mid-1990s the fleet of reserve tankers would have to be expanded to about triple the size DOD currently anticipates. Accordingly, the study recommends that the Navy consider the alternative policy of outsourcing for delivering fuel to armed forces during wartime. rtime.