- Exxon Valdez
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This article is about the oil tanker. For the spill, see Exxon Valdez oil spill.
Exxon Valdez, 1989Career Name: Oriental Nicety Owner: Hong Kong Bloom Shipping Ltd. (2008-present)
SeaRiver Maritime (1989-2008)
Exxon (1986-1989)Port of registry: 
United States (1986-2005)
Marshall Islands (2005-2008)
Panama (2008-present)Ordered: 1 August 1984 Builder: National Steel and Shipbuilding Company
San Diego, CaliforniaLaid down: 24 July 1985 Launched: 14 October 1986 In service: 11 December 1986 Renamed: Exxon Valdez (1986-1989)
Exxon Mediterranean (1990-1993)
Sea River Mediterranean (1993-2005)
S/R Mediterranean (1993-2005)
Mediterranean (2005-2008)
Dong Fang Ocean (2008-2010) (current) "Oriental Nicety"Refit: 30 June 1989 Identification: Call sign: 3EPL6
IMO number: 8414520
MMSI number: 356270000Status: Active as of July 2010[update] Notes: [1][2] General characteristics Class and type: VLCC Oil tanker Type: ABS: A1, Ore Carrier, AMS, ACCU, GRAB 25 Tonnage: 209,836 DWT Displacement: 211,469 tons (214,862 metric tons) Length: 300 m (980 ft) Beam: 51 m (167 ft) Draught: 20 m (66 ft) Deck clearance: 7.183 to 7.442 m (23.57 to 24.42 ft) Installed power: 31,650 bhp (23,601 kW) at 79 rpm Propulsion: Eight-cylinder, reversible, slow-speed Sulzer marine diesel engine. Speed: 16.25 knots (30.10 km/h; 18.70 mph) Capacity: 1.48 million barrels (235,000 m³) of crude oil Crew: 21 Notes: [3] Oriental Nicety, formerly Exxon Valdez, Exxon Mediterranean, SeaRiver Mediterranean, S/R Mediterranean, Mediterranean, and Dong Fang Ocean is an oil tanker that gained notoriety after running aground in Prince William Sound spilling hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude oil in Alaska. On March 24, 1989, while owned by the former Exxon Shipping Company, and captained by Joseph Hazelwood bound for Long Beach, California, the vessel ran aground on the Bligh Reef resulting in the second largest oil spill in United States history.[4] The size of the spill is estimated at 40,900 to 120,000 m3 (10,800,000 to 32,000,000 US gal), or 257,000 to 750,000 barrels.[5][6] In 1989, Exxon Valdez oil spill was listed as the 54th largest spill in history.
Contents
Carrier
The tanker is 301 meters long, 50 meters wide, 26 meters depth (987 ft, 166 ft, 88 ft), weighing 30,000 tons empty and powered by a 23.60 MW (31,650 shp) diesel engine. The ship can transport up to 235,000 m³ (1.48 million barrels / 200,000 t) at a sustained speed of 30 km/h (16.25 knots). Its hull design is of the single-hull type. It was built by National Steel and Shipbuilding Company in San Diego, California. A relatively new tanker at the time of the spill, she was delivered to Exxon in December 1986.
Incident and accidents
Prince William Sound oil spill
Main article: Exxon Valdez oil spillAt the time of the spill Exxon Valdez was employed to transport crude oil from the Alyeska consortium's pipeline terminal in Valdez, Alaska, to the lower 48 states of the United States. At the time it ran aground, the vessel was carrying about 201,000 m³ (53.1 million gallons of oil). After the spill, the vessel was towed to San Diego, arriving on June 10, 1989, and repairs were started on June 30, 1989. Approximately 1,600 tons of steel were removed and replaced that July, totaling US$30 million of repairs to the tanker. Its single-hull design remained unaltered.
After repairs, Exxon Valdez was renamed Exxon Mediterranean, then SeaRiver Mediterranean in the early 1990s, when Exxon transferred their shipping business to a new subsidiary company, River Maritime Inc. The name was later shortened to S/R Mediterranean, then to simply Mediterranean in 2005. Although Exxon tried briefly to return the ship to its North American fleet, it was prohibited by law from returning to Prince William Sound.[7] It then served in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.[8] In 2002, the ship was again removed from service.[9] In 2005, it began operating under the Marshall Islands flag of convenience.[10] Since then, European Union regulations have also prevented vessels with single-hull designs such as the Valdez from entering European ports.[11] It is currently in service in East Asia. In early 2008, SeaRiver Maritime, an ExxonMobil subsidiary, sold Mediterranean to a Hong Kong-based shipping company named Hong Kong Bloom Shipping Ltd., which renamed the ship once again as Dong Fang Ocean, now under Panama registry. During 2008, the ship was refitted, converting it from an oil tanker to an ore carrier. Dong Fang Ocean remains in service as of 2009 in this new configuration.
Litigation
Litigation was filed on behalf of 38,000 litigants. In 1994, a jury awarded plaintiffs US$287 million in compensatory damages and US$5 billion in punitive damages. Exxon appealed and the Ninth Circuit court reduced the punitive damages to US$2.5 billion. Exxon then appealed the punitive damages to the Supreme Court which capped the damages to US$507.5 million in June, 2008. On August 27, 2008, Exxon Mobil agreed to pay 75% of the US$507.5 million damages ruling to settle the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska.[12] In June 2009, a federal ruling ordered Exxon to pay an additional US$480 million in interest on their delayed punitive damage awards.[13]
As of 2010 there are approximately 98 cubic metres (26,000 US gal) of Valdez crude oil still in Alaska's sand and soil.[14]
Collision with MV Aali
On November 29, 2010, Dong Fang Ocean collided in the South China Sea with the Malta-flagged cargo ship, Aali. Both vessels were severely damaged in the incident, and Aali was towed to Weihai and Dong Fang Ocean was towed to Longyan Port in Shandong.[15] As of 10 December 2010, she is moored at Dalian.[16]
In popular culture
In the 1995 post-apocalyptic science fiction film Waterworld, the Exxon Valdez is still intact in the far future when the polar ice caps have melted and flooded the earth. It serves as home base for the antagonist "Smokers" clan. A portrait of Captain Hazelwood is prominently displayed and "Saint Joe" serves as their patron saint. The tanker explodes and sinks at the end of the film.
References
- ^ "Dong Fang Ocean". Auke Visser's Historical Tankers. http://www.aukevisser.nl/supertankers/bulkers/id425.htm. Retrieved 3 July 2010.
- ^ "Dong Fang Ocean - Type of ship: Cargo Ship - Callsign: 3EPL6". VesselTracker. 2010. http://www.vesseltracker.com/en/Ships/Dong-Fang-Ocean-8414520.html. Retrieved 2010-04-08.
- ^ "ABS Record: Dong Fang Ocean". American Bureau of Shipping. 2010. http://www.eagle.org/safenet/record/record_vesseldetailsprinparticular?Classno=8603137. Retrieved 29 June 2010.
- ^ "Frequently Asked Questions About the Spill". Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council. http://www.evostc.state.ak.us/history/faq.cfm. Retrieved 2008-09-21.
- ^ Elizabeth Bluemink (Thursday, 10 June 2010). "Size of Exxon spill remains disputed". Anchorage Daily News. http://www.adn.com/2010/06/05/1309722/size-of-exxon-spill-remains-disputed.html. Retrieved 29 June 2010.
- ^ Riki Ott (Friday, 18 June 2010) (audio/transcript). How Much Oil Really Spilled From the Exxon Valdez?. Interview with Brooke Gladstone. On The Media. National Public Radio. http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2010/06/18/01. Retrieved 29 June 2010.
- ^ Musgrave, Ruth S. (1998). Federal Wildlife Laws Handbook with Related Laws. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group. ISBN 9780865875579.
- ^ Robert Little (Thursday, October 17, 2002). "The former Exxon Valdez faces retirement". The Baltimore Sun. http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20021017&slug=newexxon17. Retrieved 29 June 2010.
- ^ David Kravets (Friday, 01 November 2002). "9th Circuit bars Exxon Valdez from operating". The Berkeley Daily Planet. http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2002-11-01/article/15814?headline=9th-Circuit-bars-Exxon-Valdez-from-operating. Retrieved 29 June 2010.
- ^ "Headlines 2005q1". Coltoncompany.com. 2005-03-22. http://www.coltoncompany.com/newsandcomment/headlines/headlines2005q1.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-08.
- ^ "Only Double Hull Tankers Now Into EU Ports" By Tanker World, May 3, 2007
- ^ Wakabayashi, Daisuke (2008-08-27). "Exxon agrees to pay out 75 percent of Valdez damages". Thomson Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKN2641081120080827. Retrieved 2008-09-20.
- ^ Carol J. Williams (June 16 2009). "Exxon must pay US$480 million in interest over Valdez oil tanker spill". The Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-exxon-valdez16-2009jun16,0,7865562.story. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
- ^ Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 14 / Friday, January 22, 2010 / Notices
- ^ Tim Schwabedissen, Christoph M. Wahner (29 November 2010]). "Daily Vessel Casualty, Piracy & News Report". The Law Offices of Countryman & McDaniel. http://www.cargolaw.com/presentations_casualties.php. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
- ^ "Live Ships Map - AIS Dong Fang Ocean". 10 December 2010]. http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?oldmmsi=356270000&zoom=10&olddate=12/10/2010%206:49:01%20PM. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
External links
- Emergency Response Division, Office of Response and Restoration, National Ocean Service (2010). "T/V Exxon Valdez". IncidentNews. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, US Department of Commerce. http://www.incidentnews.gov/incident/6683. Retrieved 25 June 2010.
Categories:- 1986 ships
- 1989 in Alaska
- Exxon Valdez oil spill
- Maritime incidents in 1989
- Maritime incidents in 2010
- Oil tankers
- Shipwrecks of the Alaska coast
- Vessels of ExxonMobil
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