Exxon Valdez Exxon Valdez Oriental Nicety, formerly Exxon Valdez, Exxon Mediterranean, SeaRiver Mediterranean, S/R Mediterranean, Mediterranean, and Dong Fang Ocean, was 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 and First Mate James Kunkel bound for Long Beach, California, the vessel ran aground on the Bligh Reef resulting in the second largest oil spill in United States history. The size of the spill is estimated to have been ,
Oil tanker has a capacity of over , a length overall of and a cargo capacity of . They were the first ULCCs to be double-hulled. To differentiate them from smaller ULCCs, these ships are sometimes given the "V-Plus" size designation. With the exception of the pipeline, the tanker is the most cost-effective way to move oil today. Worldwide, tankers carry some annually, and the cost of transportation by tanker amounts to only US$0.02 per gallon at the pump. In 1954 Shell Oil developed the average freight rate assessment (AFRA) system which classifies tankers of different sizes. To make it an independent