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Amoco Cadiz

1978-03-16 · Portsall Rocks, Brittany, France · VLCC crude oil tanker · Liberia flag

Disaster type
grounding
Fatalities
None
Environmental damage
~223,000 tonnes crude oil released — at the time, the largest oil spill in maritime history. Devastated 320 km of Brittany coast; killed 20,000+ birds and required a multi-year clean-up.

Accident narrative

The 233,690-DWT Liberian-flagged VLCC Amoco Cadiz lost steering in Force-10 seas off Brittany on 16 March 1978. Her rudder hydraulics failed at 09:45; the master called for tug assistance, but negotiations with the German tug Pacific over salvage terms (Lloyd's Open Form vs. daily hire) consumed hours as the vessel drifted toward the Portsall Rocks. She grounded at 21:04, broke in two two weeks later, and released her entire cargo of 223,000 tonnes of Iranian and Arabian light crude — the largest oil spill in maritime history at the time, and still one of the ten worst. The French government sued Amoco in Chicago; the 1988 judgment awarded $85 million in damages after 10 years of litigation, establishing precedent for corporate liability under US law for European-waters spills.

Crew perspective

The Amoco Cadiz case is where the modern doctrine of 'call for salvage without haggling' comes from. Every commercial marine curriculum now teaches: if you have lost propulsion or steering in confined waters, accept LOF terms and get the tug on the line — do not negotiate rates while your ship drifts. The 1978 STCW convention, drafted the year of the casualty, encoded the 'competent watch-keeper' framework that mandates real-time decision authority.

Regulatory response

Direct impetus for MARPOL Annex I revisions on tanker design + the STCW 1978 emphasis on watch-keeping. Also drove EU port-state-control regime and the Paris MoU (1982).

See also