Valdez, Alaska The original town site was dismantled and abandoned. From 1975 to 1977, the Trans-Alaska pipeline was built to carry oil from the Prudhoe Bay oil fields in northern Alaska to a terminal in Valdez, the nearest ice-free port. Oil is loaded onto tanker ships for transport. The construction and operation of the pipeline and terminal boosted the economy of Valdez. The 1989 "Exxon Valdez" oil spill occurred as the oil tanker "Exxon Valdez" was leaving the terminal at Valdez full of oil. The spill occurred at Bligh Reef, about from Valdez. Although the oil did not reach Valdez, it devastated
History of the oil tanker ships with oil instead of coal, mass-production of automobiles and increasing aviation, all increased demand for oil and thus oil transport. In 1928 the World's largest oil tanker was the , completed that year for Canadian owners by Bremer Vulkan in Germany. With the right connections at the Shipping Board, ships could be bought cheaply, which caused a lot of fraud. This system was too complicated for the oil companies however, so when World War II started, independents owned 39 percent of the world tanker fleet. This was especially because oil companies needed capital to invest in the growing oil