The Braer disaster

On the morning of 5 January 1993, the Liberian-registered tanker MV Braer, en route from Norway to Canada with 85,000 tonnes of light crude oil, lost engine power in hurricane-force winds off Sumburgh and drifted onto the rocks at Garth's Ness. For the first days the spill looked as though it would dwarf the Exxon Valdez. In the end the lighter Norwegian crude dispersed with the storm; the environmental damage, while real, was far less than feared. The lessons drove new traffic-routing rules for the waters around Shetland that remain in force today.