Oil Spill in San Francisco as a result of Ship collision with the Oakland Bay Bridge
I am sure sometime ago we all read in the news media and on also saw on TV. Where a container ship which was traveling through dense fog bumped into a tower supporting the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge spilling thousands of gallons of oil into the sea.
The accident caused no structural damage to the span but the ship's hull suffered a large gash that poured about 58,000 gallons of fuel in the bay. The leak prompted the closures of five San Francisco beaches an official said, Several people who were at the Port of San Francisco reported getting headaches and feeling nauseated from inhaling oil fumes, but the city's public health department said no one was at risk from long-term health effects.
The Cosco Busan ship, which was heading from Oakland to South Korea, struck a tower west of Yerba Buena Island. The ship later anchored north of Treasure Island, outside the channel. A veteran bay pilot who was the captain of the massive ship, guiding it out of the Bay at the time of the collision.
"The vessel did not actually contact the bridge," he said. "We have a fender system that is on the outside of the bridge that acts as a bumper…It served its purpose…We lost about 100 feet of the fender system in the collision. There are several beams that are 8x10x14 feet and weigh 400 pounds apiece that have to be replaced."
The Coast Guard as it appears to me were late in getting to the spill site rendering a massive oil spill into the sea beaches thereby polluting an entire area.
The marine inspectors conducted several investigations into the cause of the accident, while an Army Corps of Engineers crew collected large wooden chunks from the bridge fender system that broke off into the water. Even though Hanjin Shipping the owners of the ship will pay for the cost of the bay clean-up. There was some unethical practice.
The port was posting signs warning people not to fish in certain areas near the spill.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management Board also monitored the safety of the air.
The San Francisco police and the Coast Guard also enforced a 100-foot safety zone around the leaked fuel and the ship, docked north of Treasure Island, according to the Coast Guard.
On the whole there were some ethical violations on the part of the ship owners and the coast guard.
Posted By: Benjamin Yaw Atsem
Sources:
“Oil Spilled in Bridge Collision closes San Francisco Beaches”
POSTED: 9:49 am PST November 7, 2007
UPDATED: 11:58 pm PST November 7, 2007
<http://www.ktvu.com/news/14532288/detail.html>
“Ship Types 101 - San Francisco Bay Bridge Oil Tanker Collision”
Gcaptain . November 12th, 2007
<http://gcaptain.com/maritime/blog/ship-types-101-san-francisco-bay-bridge-oil-tanker-collision/>
