Container vessel collides with Bay Bridge, spills fuel

Container vessel collides with Bay Bridge, spills fuel A 5,447-TEU containership transiting San Francisco Bay in heavy fog Wednesday morning struck one of the Bay Bridge towers, spilling nearly 60,000 gallons of bunker fuel into the water.
   The 900-foot-long COSCO Busan's striking blow destroyed a section of the tower footing's ablative safety barrier and tore a nearly 80-foot-long by 20-foot-wide gash in the port side of the vessel. The bridge tower's concrete footing was not damaged and officials said it was unlikely the collision was even felt on the bridge roadway several hundred feet above.
   Despite the U.S. Coast Guard reporting that it had recovered 8,000 gallons of fuel from the water, fumes from the evaporating spill wafted over the city's Financial District forcing the San Francisco public health department to issue a statement noting that oil vapors had sickened some people onshore. Health officials said the fumes had reportedly caused headaches and nausea, but added that the fumes posed no long-term health effects.
   The fuel spill also prompted the closure of five beaches on the bay.
   The cause of the accident remains under investigation, city officials said.
   At the time of the collision, the vessel was exiting the bay and under the control of a veteran local pilot referred by the San Francisco Bar Pilot Association.
   “At this point, we don’t really know' what happened, Capt. Peter McIsaac, SFBPA president, told InsideBayArea.com. “There’s obviously going to be a full investigation by the state Board of Pilot Commissioners as well as the Coast Guard.”
   Pilots, who are familiar with the local conditions and geography, are used in most ports to guide vessels in and out of the harbor.
   Experts said the Bay Bridge is easily identifiable on radar like that used aboard container vessels. The footings of the bridge's four towers are also surrounded with buoys that experts say should be readily visible with maritime radar.
   According to the Equasis public shipping registry, the COSCO Busan is registered to Conti Cairo KG of Germany and managed by German firm NSB Niederelbe. The vessel is chartered by South Korean shipping company Hanjin Shipping from Cyprus-based Synergy Marine, according to a statement from Hanjin. The vessel was built in 2001 and formerly served as the Hanjin Cairo.
   As Synergy Marine 'fully operates the ship as well as manages the entire crew including the captain, Hanjin Shipping has no legal responsibility in this accident,” the Seoul-based firm said the statement.
   The 68,000-deadweight-ton COSCO Busan is deployed on the weekly CAX service and was headed from Oakland to the port of Busan in Korea. COSCO Container Lines and Yang Ming, two of Hanjin’s partners in the CKYH Alliance, also take slots on the service.
   Hanjin said in its statement that the firm is making every effort to assure that cargo aboard the Busan is delivered to customers.