The 920-foot container ship Cosco Busan, heading out of the San Francisco Bay from the Port Of Oakland, collided with a support tower of the fog-shrouded Bay Bridge early Wednesday, leaving it with a 70-foot gash in its side and leaking oil into the bay.A veteran bay pilot was at the helm of the massive ship, guiding it out of the Bay at the time of the collision which occurred at about 8:30 a.m. during the morning commute but did not disrupt traffic on the bridge.
Bay Pilot Association spokesman Peter McIssac said the collision left the ship with “extensive damage.” He told KTVU the foggy conditions may have been a factor in the accident.
A team of California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) engineers examined the Delta Tower — the third tower east of the San Francisco anchorage — for damage. Caltrans spokesman Bart Ney said the bridge itself was not damaged but a massive steel fender system protecting it would have to be replaced.
“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 8×10x14 feet and weigh 400 pounds apiece that have to be replaced.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. Coast Guard examined the fully loaded, foreign-owned Hanjin container ship and found a gash on the port side near the middle of vessel that was 70-feet long, 12-feet wide and 3-feet deep. The ship also leaked oil for at least 30 minutes after the collision.
Hunter said that the ship operators had transferred the oil to another part of the vessel and stopped the leaking.
But there may be other damage. The Alameda County Sheriff’s Department said its marine patrol boat has spotted debris in the water near the crash scene.
[More at KTVU]
I’m shocked there aren’t more of these accidents. The Bay Area is notoriously foggy, Radar is only so good, and the waterways get pretty busy at times. Looking at the ship and reading the names, I wondered also who was the pilot. Did the pilot mess up, or did the captain ignore them? The irony is that Treasure Island is the main control post for the Coast Guard for the Bay… and the Bay Bridge is aligned through Treasure Island.
That said, I’m glad the “fenders” worked as advertised and
thre wasn’t any damage. Its taken this long to get what we have of the new Bay Bridge done. I’m afraid to find out how long the Bay Area would be without a bridge if taken out entirely.
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