Return to service[SIZE=small][[/SIZE]
edit]
After repairs,
Exxon Valdez was renamed
Exxon Mediterranean, then
SeaRiver Mediterranean in the early 1990s, when Exxon transferred their shipping business to a new subsidiary company, River Maritime Inc. The name was later shortened to
S/R Mediterranean, then to simply
Mediterranean in 2005. Although Exxon tried briefly to return the ship to its North American fleet, it was prohibited by law from returning to Prince William Sound.
[10] It then served in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
[11] In 2002, the ship was again removed from service.
[12] In 2005, it began operating under the Marshall Islands
flag of convenience.
[13] Since then, European Union regulations have also prevented vessels with single-hull designs such as the Valdez from entering European ports.
[14] In early 2008, SeaRiver Maritime, an ExxonMobil subsidiary, sold
Mediterranean to the Hong Kong-based shipping company, Hong Kong Bloom Shipping Ltd., which renamed the ship once again, to
Dong Fang Ocean, under Panama registry. In 2008, she was refitted and converted from an oil tanker to an ore carrier.
Collision with MV
Aali[SIZE=small][[/SIZE]
edit]
On November 29, 2010,
Dong Fang Ocean collided in the South China Sea with the Malta-flagged cargo ship,
Aali. Both vessels were severely damaged in the incident, and
Aali was towed to
Weihai and
Dong Fang Ocean was towed to Longyan Port in
Shandong.
[15]
Retirement[SIZE=small][[/SIZE]
edit]
In March 2012,
Dong Fang Ocean was purchased by
Global Marketing Systems, Inc. for scrap at an estimated US$16 million and sailed under her own power to a
ship breaker in Singapore. She changed hands again among scrap merchants (a common occurrence) and was eventually routed to
Alang, India, under the ownership of Priya Blue Industries and at some point renamed
Oriental Nicety.
[16] Before being beached, some tried to halt the action, arguing that the vessel was in breach of the
Basel Convention.
[17] On 30 July 2012, the
Supreme Court of India granted permission for the owners of
Oriental Nicety to beach her at Gujarat coast to be dismantled.
[18] She was then beached at Alang on 2 August 2012.
[19]
