San Francisco: A Hanjin-leased container ship hit San Francisco's Bay Bridge tower yesterday local time resulting in fuel spills, though the bridge span was undamaged.
A large section of the Cosco Busan was damaged when it hit the bridge tower on Wednesday, leaving a scar on the hull.
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, a German-flagged, 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.
Coast Guard officials said fuel leaked from the gash at the port side of the bow for about half an hour before the Cosco Busan's crew managed to close off the damaged tank and transfer fuel to another part of the ship.
Rob Roberts, a lieutenant with the state Department of Fish and Game, said the 140 gallons of fuel that spilled from the ship will take about a month to clean up. By midday, some fuel had already reached Pier One in San Francisco just north of the Ferry Building.
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.
The ship arrived Tuesday at the Port of Oakland, was tied up for 17 hours while taking on a load of containers and then headed out for Pusan, South Korea.
The ship is on a five year time charter to Hanjin Shipping at US$29,000 a day. The 5,447 teu ship was bought by Greece's Synergy Maritime this summer for US$80m. [08/11/07]
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