Dong Fang Ocean, formerly Exxon Valdez, Exxon Mediterranean, SeaRiver Mediterranean, S/R Mediterranean, and Mediterranean, 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 USgal), or 257,000 to 750,000 barrels.^[5][6] In 1989, Exxon Valdez oil spill was listed as the 54th largest spill in history.

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. A relatively new tanker at the time of the spill, it was delivered to Exxon in December 1986.

At 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, 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.^[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]

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as of 2010 there are approximately 98 m³ (26,000 gallons) of Valdez crude oil still in Alaska's sand and soil.^[14]

References

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.