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 in the yard at Norfolk, Virginia, Ludwig went to Japan where he introduced the block construction method at the Kure Naval Yard. Here, in 1952, he built the "Petrokure" of 38,000 long tons. That same year, Onassis had a tanker of 45,000 long tons built and also Niarchos had supertankers built. Both Onassis and Niarchos claimed to be the largest independent tanker owner in the world. The "Sinclair Petrolore" that Ludwig had built in 1955, was at 56,000 long tons not only the largest freighter in the world, but also a self-unloading ore-oil carrier, the only one of that type