When the Exxon Valdez hit the rocks in Prince William Sound in 1989, it was to spark arguably the most influential and controversial international shipping regulation ever enacted: that tankers should be built with a double hull.
It took more than 20 years for the tanker industry to switch from single to double hulls in a phase-out plan that was written into the International Convention for the Prevention of Oil from Ships (Marpol) but happened largely at the prompting of the US and Europe in the face of criticism that it would be ineffective and would cause market turmoil.
