Exxon Valdez

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This article is about the oil tanker. For the spill, see Exxon Valdez oil spill.
The Exxon Valdez
The Exxon Valdez, 1989
Career (USA) Flag of the United States
Name: Exxon Valdez
Namesake: The port of Valdez, Alaska
Ordered: 1 August 1984[1]
Builder: National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, San Diego
Laid down: 24 July 1985
Launched: 14 October 1986
In service: 11 December 1986
Renamed: Exxon Mediterranean
Refit: June 30, 1989
Identification: IMO number 8414520[1]
MMSI number 356270000[2]
Callsign 3EPL6[2]
Fate: Repaired and renamed, transferred to foreign trade.
Career (USA) Flag of the United States
Name: Sea River Mediterranean
Ordered: SeaRiver Maritime
In service: 1989
Renamed: S/R Mediterranean
Mediterranean
Identification: IMO number 8414520[1]
MMSI number 356270000[2]
Callsign 3EPL6[2]
Fate: Transferred to Marshall Islands register.
Career (Marshall Islands) Flag of the Marshall Islands
Name: Mediterranean
In service: 2005
Identification: IMO number 8414520[1]
MMSI number 356270000[2]
Callsign 3EPL6[2]
Nickname: moto moto
Status: Sold to Hong Kong Bloom Shipping, 2008
Career (Panama) Flag of Panama
Name: Dong Fang Ocean
Owner: Hong Kong Bloom Shipping Ltd.
In service: 2008
Identification: IMO number 8414520[1]
MMSI number 356270000[2]
Callsign 3EPL6[2]
Status: In service as ore carrier
General characteristics
Type: VLCC
Tonnage: 110,831 tons
Displacement: 211,469 tons (214,862 metric tons)
Length: 301 m (987.5 ft)
Beam: 51 m (166.24 ft)
Draft: 20 m (64.63 ft)
Installed power: 31,650 bhp (23,601kW) at 79rpm
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

Exxon Valdez was the original name of an oil tanker owned by the former Exxon Shipping Company, a division of the former Exxon Corporation. It was later called Exxon Mediterranean[3], SeaRiver Mediterranean, S/R Mediterranean, Mediterranean, and currently Dong Fang Ocean. The ship gained infamy after the March 24, 1989 oil spill in which the tanker, captained by Joseph Hazelwood and bound for Long Beach, California, hit Prince William Sound's Bligh Reef and spilled an estimated minimum 10.8 million US gallons (40.9 million liters) of crude oil. This has been recorded as one of the largest spills in United States history and one of the largest ecological disasters.[4]

[edit] Career

The tanker is 300 metres long, 50 metres wide, and 27 mmetres in depth (987 feet by 166 feet by 88 feet), weighing 30,000 tons empty and powered by a 31,650 shp (23.60 MW) diesel engine. The ship can transport up to 1.48 million barrels (200,000 t) at a sustained speed of 16.25 knots (30 km/h). Its hull design is of the single-hull type. It was built by National Steel and Shipbuilding Company in San Diego. A relatively new tanker at the time of the spill, it was delivered to Exxon in December 1986.

At the time of the spill the 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 1.26 million barrels of oil, (about 53 million US gallons or 200 million liters). 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 $30 million of repairs to the tanker. Its single-hull design remained unaltered.

After repairs, the Exxon Valdez was renamed the Exxon Mediterranean, then SeaRiver Mediterranean in the early 1990s, when Exxon transferred their shipping business to a new subsidiary company, SeaRiver 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.[5] It then served in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.[6] In 2002, the ship was again removed from service.[7].[8] In 2005, it began operating under the Marshall Islands flag of convenience[9] Since then, European Union regulations have also prevented vessels with single-hull designs such as the Valdez from entering European ports.[10] It is currently in service in East Asia. In early 2008, SeaRiver Maritime, an ExxonMobil subsidiary, sold the 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.

[edit] Protracted litigation

Litigation was filed on behalf of 38,000 litigants of which approximately 32,000 survive today since the incident. In 1994, a jury awarded plaintiffs $287 million in compensatory damages and $5 billion in punitive damages. Exxon appealed and the Ninth Circuit court reduced the punitive damages to $2.5 billion. Exxon then appealed the punitive damages to the Supreme Court which capped the damages to $507.5 million in June, 2008. On August 27, 2008, Exxon Mobil agreed to pay 75% of the $507.5 million damages ruling to settle the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska.[11] In June 2009, a federal ruling ordered Exxon to pay an additional $480 million in interest on their delayed punitive damage awards [12]

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, there are approximately 26,000 gallons of Valdez crude oil still in Alaska's sand and soil.

A ship bearing the name Exxon Valdez makes an appearance in the 1995 film Waterworld, as the "Smokers'" oil carrying vessel.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e http://www.xvas.it/SPECIAL/VTship.php?imo=8414520&mode=CK
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h http://www.vesseltracker.com/en/Ships/Dong-Fang-Ocean-8414520.html
  3. ^ Auke Visser, Esso Related Tankers
  4. ^ "Frequently Asked Questions About the Spill". Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council. http://www.evostc.state.ak.us/history/faq.cfm. Retrieved on 2008-09-21. 
  5. ^ Musgrave, Ruth S. (1998). Federal Wildlife Laws Handbook with Related Laws. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group. ISBN 9780865875579. 
  6. ^ http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20021017&slug=newexxon17
  7. ^ "The former Exxon Valdez faces retirement" By Robert Little, Baltimore Sun, October 17, 2002. http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20021017&slug=newexxon17
  8. ^ "9th Circuit bars Exxon Valdez from operating", By David Kravets, The Associated Press,November 01, 2002. http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2002-11-01/article/15814?headline=9th-Circuit-bars-Exxon-Valdez-from-operating
  9. ^ http://www.coltoncompany.com/newsandcomment/headlines/headlines2005q1.htm
  10. ^ "Only Double Hull Tankers Now Into EU Ports" By Tanker World, May 3, 2007
  11. ^ 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 on 2008-09-20. 
  12. ^ Exxon must pay $480 in interest over Valdez oil tanker spill, Los Angeles Times, June 16 2009
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Valdez"
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