Exxon Valdez: Ill-fated oil tanker sold for scrap

The notorious Exxon Valdez, responsible for the biggest oil spill in U.S. history until the BP disaster two years ago, is being scrapped.

The tanker, renamed the Oriental Nicety and converted into an ore carrier, was sold by Cosco for about $16 million to Maryland-based Global Marketing Systems Inc., Bloomberg News reports.

The 1989 Valdez spill dumped 11 million gallons of oil into Alaska’s pristine Prince William Sound, damaging 700 miles of coastline and killing 36,000 birds.

Oil tankers were redesigned after that. The Valdez had a single hull, and the accident led to the requirement that tankers have twin hulls, one inside the other.

Exxon Mobil Corp., which spent nearly $4 billion in the cleanup, still faces litigation over the spill.

Oil remains trapped along miles of gravel beaches.

RELATED:

Justices slash Exxon Valdez verdict

Sarah Palin emails: Exxon stalling tactics called ‘outrageous’

Exxon Valdez oil could persist for ‘decades and possibly centuries’