Exxon Valdez Sold for Scrap

The Oriental Nicety, aka the former Exxon Valdez, has been sold for scrap, almost 23 years after running aground on Bligh Reef and forever reserving its place in the history books.

Tradewinds broke the news yesterday that the vessel that infamously spilled 11 million gallons of oil into Alaska’s Prince William Sound, the largest tanker spill ever in U.S. waters, was sold to Global Marketing Systems Inc., the world’s biggest cash buyer of ships for demolition, for $460 per ldt, or roughly $16 million.

Now named the Oriental Nicety (the vessel has changed names and owners four times throughout its lifetime according to Bloomberg), the tanker was converted into an ore carrier in 2007 and was later severely damaged in a collision with a cargo ship in the South China Sea in 2010.

But despite its rough past, the vessel will reportedly sail under her own power to India where she will eventually be demolished.

In addition to costing Exxon billions of dollars in cleanup costs and fines, and litigation that continues to this day, the accident led to the passage of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, mandating the phase out single-hulled tankers, among other things.

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