Container ship hits Bay Bridge tower

[n2doc]

The Cosco Busan sits idle as inspections take place. The Hanjin container ship that struck the Bay Bridge tower sits off of Treasure island as a Coast Guard vessel inspects the large section of the ship that came in contact with the tower. Chronicle photo by Michael Macor



Officials aboard a pilot boat move in for a close inspection of a Bay Bridge tower that was apparently hit by a 900-foot freighter passing under the bridge in heavy fog in San Francisco on Wednesday. Chronicle photo by Paul Chinn


Michael Taylor, Carl Nolte,Jonathan Curiel, Chronicle Staff Writers
Wednesday, November 7, 2007

(11-07) 12:15 PST SAN FRANCISCO - A container ship bound for South Korea in thick fog struck a tower base of the west span of the Bay Bridge this morning, but Coast Guard officials said the incident was not serious enough to close the bridge.

Lt. Anya Hunter said the ship hit the protective rubber tires that cover the concrete base of the second tower west of Yerba Buena Island about 8:30 a.m. and then bounced off. The ship, a German-flagged vessel named the Cosco Busan that is 810 feet long, apparently hit the base hard enough for the concrete to inflict a gash 10 feet above the water line and about 160 feet long, witnesses said.

The Coast Guard said fuel leaked from the vessel for about half an hour before the Cosco Busan's crew managed to close off the damaged tank and transfer fuel to an undamaged part of the ship.
There were no reports of injuries.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/07/BAH3T81G7.DTL

[Turbineguy]

1. Yep

That's where the wing tanks are that carry the fuel. Lucky break if they were not full of fuel.

More info on vessel:

http://nautik4ever.com/ships/info/000058.html

[Javaman]

3. You mean the bunker fuel?

I'm currently doing some research into cargo and oil carriers. I'm still naive about this stuff.

[Turbineguy]

5. Bunker fuel

This is residual fuel. On containerships fuel is carried in wingtanks on the both sides of the vessel. This is otherwise empty space outside of the holds. Double bottoms are used for water ballast. In this case it appears that the forward fuel tanks that were breached were empty. I'm guessing 2 tanks were opened.

[Javaman]

10. Interesting. I didn't know that the ballist was in the bottom.

Have you worked on a tanker or cargo ship?

[Pierre.Suave]

2. Why do you hate Amurika?

There you go, giving the terraists ideas again...

JK, that sucks, I am glad no one was hurt and that other than fuel leakage, there seems to be no impact. They better check that bridge well.

[shain from kane]

4. Used to be known as the Exxon Valdez. n/t

[Zywiec]

6. I thought you meant the "real" bay bridge in Maryland

:hi:

[rateyes]

7. I thought the real Bay Bridge was in Virginia...

or is it Tampa? :hi:

[LeftyMom]

8. Nothing outside of California is real.

:P

[rateyes]

9. If California is "reality" then

give me fantasyland! :P :hi:

[Turbineguy]

11. Further Update

November 7, the container ship Cosco Busan struck the San Francisco Bay Bridge span "D" at 8:30 a.m. According to a USCG press release, "the vessel was south bound towards Anchorage 9 with a pilot onboard at the time of the allision." Reportedly, the ship was damaged on the forward left side and bunker fuel leaked from it. When MarEx went online, numerous beaches in the area had been closed (see the USCG press release here for more details) for "public health concerns" over the estimated 58,000 gallons of leaked bunker fuel, 8,000 gallons of which had been recovered as of 8:30 p.m. on the day of the accident. Soon after the incident, the vessel was moved to Anchorage 9 on its own power, leaking oil as it went, and San Francisco police and the USCG enforced a 100-foot safety zone around the fuel in the water. Though USCG pollution investigators and marine inspectors from Sector San Francisco have just begun investigating the cause of the incident, which will entail drug and alcohol testing the crew, it has been reported that "visibility was limited" due to fog when the accident occurred.

Check USCG San Francisco Web Site, www.uscgsanfrancisco.com, for the latest news on the investigation. USCG San Francisco recently released photos of the Cosco Busan as well.

This info copied from the MarEx newsletter Nov 8.