MV Sea Empress
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | Sea Empress |
| Owner | Oriental Ocean Shipping |
| Builder | Spain |
| Launched | 6 June 1992 |
| Acquired | 2010 |
| Out of service | 2012 |
| Identification |
|
| Fate | Scrapped 2012 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage | 147,273 DWT |
| Length | 274.3 m (899 ft 11 in) |
| Beam | 43.2 m (141 ft 9 in) |
| Draft | 17.02 m (55 ft 10 in) |
| Installed power | 13,475 kW (18,070 hp) |
| Propulsion | direct-drive diesel, single propeller |
| Capacity | 164,156 m3 (1,003,040 imp bbl) |
MV Sea Empress was a single-hull Suezmax oil tanker that ran aground at the entrance to the Milford Haven harbour on the southwest coast of Wales in February 1996. The ensuing oil spill, Britain's third largest oil spillage and the 12th largest in the world at the time, devastated a considerable area of local coastline and killed many birds, and continued to affect the Pembrokeshire coast for years afterwards.