Alaskan Supertanker "Sea River Kodiak" Lost Power in Prince William Sound January 17, 2010

The Alaskan supertanker "Sea River Kodiak" lost power at Hinchinbrook Entrance, at the mouth of Prince William Sound in Alaska, on January 17, 2010. Two tugs that were nearby had to come to the vessel's rescue and tow it back into the Sound for temporary repairs. The supertanker was fully laden at the time of the incident, with 25 million gallons of crude oilm on board.

This incident comes less than a month after an Alaskan tanker escort tug ran aground, incredible as it may seem, on Bligh Reef, also in Prince William Sound, discharging a portion of its diesel fuel into the Sound in the process. Bligh Reef, you may recall, is where the "Exxon Valdez" ran aground in April, 1989.

Sea River Maritime, operator of the "Sea River Kodiak", is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Exxon Mobil.

Texas Oil Spill Underlines Inherent Tanker Risk

The January 23, 2010 Port Arthur, Texas oil tanker spill involving the MV Eagle Otome and a barge highlights the fact that in spite of rigorous international and American safety standards, accidents can and do still happen. In this case, an undetermined amount of crude oil leaked from the tanker into the water, in spite of the fact that the MV Eagle is double-hulled.

The whole idea of a double hulls is to prevent oil spills in the event a tanker's outer hull or 'skin' as it is called, is punctured. In this case, the extra layer didn't help, at least not completely. Of course it is always possible that the second skin prevented a larger oil escape from happening. But, obviously, complete protection was not achieved.