Ooops! Container Ship Collides with SF Bay Bridge

The job of a harbor pilot is more or less the same all around the world: When big ships come into port, the pilot takes the helm of the vessel to steer it safely past local hazards and obstacles -- all of which the pilot knows well.  Familiarity is one of a pilot's most essential instruments, which is why there are probably some very red faces right now at the headquarters of the San Francisco Bar Pilots.

At 8:30 am this morning, the Cosco Busan, an 810-foot container ship, collided with the base of one of the towers of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge while the ship was under the control of a Bar Pilot. The crash created a huge gash in the side of the ship and triggered an 58,000 gallon oil leak that created an environmental mess in San Francisco Bay. The San Francisco Chronicle carries the story:

A container ship bound for South Korea struck a tower base of the west span of the Bay Bridge today, tearing a gash in the hull and spilling fuel in the bay but sparing the bridge any damage, officials said.

Coast Guard Lt. Anya Hunter said the ship hit the protective shield that covers the concrete base of the second tower west of Yerba Buena Island about 8:30 a.m. and then bounced off. The ship, an 810-foot vessel named the Cosco Busan, hit the base hard enough for the concrete under the shield to inflict a gash 10 feet above the water line and about 160 feet long.

Caltrans spokesman Bart Ney said there was no damage to the Bay Bridge and "nobody driving on the bridge would have felt anything" when the ship hit the tower base, more than 200 feet below the bridge deck.
[...]

There was no immediate explanation for why the ship hit the tower base.

San Francisco bar pilot John J. Cota was on board the ship when the accident happened, said Pat Moloney, executive director of the San Francisco Bar Pilots Commission. Cota is one of the most experienced of the 60 captains who belong to the bar pilots association, having been a pilot since 1981, Moloney said.

Bar pilots, all veteran captains, guide ships in and out of San Francisco Bay. When a ship is leaving the bay, as the Cosco Busan was today, the vessel's captain has overall responsibility, but the bar pilot is at the controls until the ship clears the San Francisco bar channel, about 15 miles west of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Visibility was limited at the time of the accident because of fog, the Coast Guard said. After the incident, the Cosco Busan sailed to Anchorage 9, just off Candlestick Point, to await further orders.

What happened? How could a Bar Pilot who has navigated big ships under the Bay Bridge hundreds of times allow this to happen? Those are probably same questions are being asked by the Coast Guard and the (very embarassed) San Francisco Bar Pilots right now.  Perhaps our friends over at gCaptain can provide some perspective?  In the meantime, some of the locals are none too pleased that the bay waters around San Francisco are now coated with oil.

Stay tuned.

UPDATE, 8 November, 2007

In an email to Telstar Logistics MM John Konrad of gCaptain weighs in with these observations about the circumstances behind the Cosco Busan allision, and the role the pilot plays aboard a ship as it sails in and out of port.  And what's an "allision?" John sez:

-A pilot is taken on in an advisory role only all final decisions and
responsibility remain with the captain at all times.

-In reality Captain's are heavily reliant on local pilots and nearly
always give the pilot full command of the ship, meaning the pilot is
the one giving helm commands and related orders.

-With the pilot "in command" of the bridge the captain serves to
advise him of the vessel's capabilities/faults and monitors the
progress.

-Since the captain retains legal control of the vessel at all times he
has the right and duty to over ride any of the pilot's commands and
remove him altogether if necessary. Making decisions, however, is
considered an extreme action and only rarely occur in U.S. ports.

-The Pilot's role as an advisor protects him from nearly all legal
responsibility in regards to the allision.

Also; A collision is between two moving vessels. An incident is referred to
as an "allision" if it occurs between a ship and a stationary object.

LINKS:

Ship crashes into Bay Bridge tower, spills 'nasty' oil (San Francisco Chronicle, November 7, 2007)

Oil Spilled In Bridge Collision Closes SF Beaches (KTVU-TV, with video links)

San Francisco Bar Pilots (official website)

PREVIOUSLY:
Loose Lips Find Ships

What Went Wrong Aboard the MV Pasha Bulker?

(PHOTOS: All photos above by Michael Macor of the San Francisco Chronicle.)

Comments

[Clayton]

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[Notorious S.I.G.]

MEDS

[sb]

2 spams, 0 real comments so far. That's a shame.

Ocean Beach doesn't seem to have suffered much. Most of the oil seems confined to the bay and strait.

[Tom]

I caught a shot of the Cosco Busan moored south of the Bay Bridge on Friday afternoon:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dollar_bin/1936256303/

I guess they started unloading it Friday night, pfeyh has a nice pic of them taking the containers off.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pfeyh/1943745353/in/photostream/