What is TTT (Tank to Tank)?

At a glance

What it is used for

TTT suits a buyer who is going to store rather than ship — a blender, a distributor breaking bulk, or a trader holding a position until the price or the freight improves. It also removes the most expensive uncertainty in a TTV deal: no vessel is nominated, so no demurrage clock ever starts. What appears in its place is storage rent, which begins the moment the product is in your tank.

How it works, step by step

1. 1Get storage first. A TTT deal is impossible without a tank, so the buyer needs a storage agreement or lease at that terminal, and the terminal has to accept the buyer as a customer in its own right. Terminal onboarding is a KYC process of its own and takes weeks, not days — starting it after the contract is signed is the usual reason these deals collapse.
2. 2Agree the contract: the terminal, both tanks, the product specification, quantity and tolerance, the transfer window, whether meters or tank gauges govern, who pays the throughput fee and any line displacement loss, and what payment is made against.
3. 3The seller evidences the product — a holding certificate or tank receipt in the seller's name — and the terminal confirms it is unencumbered. The buyer puts up the agreed payment instrument.
4. 4Both parties instruct the terminal. The transfer needs a written instruction from the seller and acceptance from the buyer; no terminal moves product between customers on a phone call.
5. 5An independent inspector gauges the seller's tank and draws sealed samples before the transfer, and gauges the buyer's tank before and after. Quality is tested against the contract specification — especially important where the receiving tank already holds a heel.
6. 6The product is pumped through the terminal's lines — or, where both parties hold product at the same terminal and no physical movement is needed, the terminal re-assigns it in its records as a book transfer.
7. 7The terminal issues a holding certificate in the buyer's name. That certificate, with the certificates of quantity and quality, is what payment is made against; there is no bill of lading because there is no ship. Storage rent starts running against the buyer from that date.

Key points

• It is an operation, not an Incoterm. TTT says where the product goes and allocates no cost or risk, so the contract still needs a delivery term — usually EXW or FCA at the terminal — or a bespoke in-tank transfer clause.
• There is no bill of lading. The document proving you hold the product is the terminal's holding certificate or warehouse receipt, and it is worth exactly what the terminal that issued it is worth.
• The buyer must become a terminal customer before anything else can happen. This, not the commercial terms, is usually what decides whether a TTT deal is real.
• A book transfer moves title without moving product. It is faster, cheaper and avoids line losses, but it only works where both parties already hold product at that terminal.

What to watch for

• Storage rent replaces demurrage as the clock that costs you money. It starts on transfer and keeps running whether or not you have found an onward buyer, and a tank you cannot empty is a position you cannot exit.
• Line displacement losses are real. Product left in the terminal's pipework between tanks is paid for by someone, and the contract should name them before the pumps start.
• A heel in the receiving tank will change the specification of what you end up holding. Blending is either the point of the deal or an accident — establish in writing which, before the transfer.
• Confirm the tank and the seller's holding with the terminal on contact details you found independently. A holding certificate is a document like any other, and a terminal that will not confirm it to you directly is a reason to stop.

Frequently asked questions

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