Amoco Cadiz oil spill Amoco Cadiz oil spill The oil tanker "Amoco Cadiz" ran aground on Portsall Rocks, from the coast of Brittany, France, on 16 March 1978, and ultimately split in three and sank, all together resulting in the largest oil spill of its kind in history to that date. NOAA estimates that the total oil spill amounted to 220,880 metric tonnes of oil. En route from the Persian Gulf to Rotterdam, Netherlands, via a scheduled stop at Lyme Bay, Great Britain, the ship encountered stormy weather with gale conditions and high seas while in the English Channel. At around 09:45, a heavy
History of the oil tanker who could ask enormous rates for their vessels. Where the existing tanker fleet comprised some 150 million long tons, in a quarter of a year a tonnage of 75 million was ordered, although new build prices doubled. The increase in scale brought a new problem. Until then, the washing of tanks after cargo discharge was done by water. In December 1969 three tankers exploded during tank washing. The Dutch Shell tanker "Marpessa" sank off Dakar and became the largest merchant vessel ever lost. The other two, the British Shell tanker "Mactra" and the Norwegian "Kong Haakon VII" were damaged heavily,