Cosco Busan, Container Ship oil spill SF BAY 2008_BAZELEY USCG-AUX 17 PA

Cosco Busan, Container Ship San Francisco Bay Oil Spill

Roger Bazeley M.S.T.M, M.S.I.D., C.T.S.M., C.H.S.R.M

USCG AUXILLARY PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Flotilla 1-7

COSCO BUSAN Collision/Spill

WHO: is in charge, who is involved in the response, who is most impacted by this event

WHAT: is your name, title, qualifications, and responsibilities; what caused this to happen, what is the response, what is the likely of increased damage, what is the agency response to immediate and future dangers, injury and casualty estimates.

WHEN: did this happen, when will the situation be resolved WHY: Why did this happen, non-prevention, why no early warning, why

not under control, why such a long response… WHERE: location. Most damaged areas, rescue concentration, rescue

efforts, safe areas, food and shelter availability. HOW: How many casualties, damage levels, situation control…

Crisis Questions: The Common 6

1.) "There was unequivocally pilot error," said Gary Gleason, an attorney for the state Board of Pilot Commissioners.

2.) Cota was in control of the 901- foot-long container ship Cosco Busan when it smashed into one of the towers of the Bay Bridge, which caused a 220-foot long gash in the side of the ship and punctured the ship's fuel tanks.

Charges and Liability against Pilot Cota in Cosco Busan San Francisco Bay Fuel/Bunker Oil Spill

3.) More than 50,000 gallons of heavy fuel oil spilled out, fouling 26 miles of shoreline and killing more than 2,000 birds.

4.) The findings of the pilot commission are moot because the commission has authority only over a pilot's license, and Cota has surrendered his license.


6.) The report found that Cota had made seven serious errors in piloting the ship from its berth on the Oakland estuary to its encounter with the bridge.

5.) Cota faces a federal criminal indictment on seven counts of violating the law by spilling oil and killing federally protected birds.


1.) Cota’s major errors included; a.) Failing to correctly read an electronic chart on the ship, b.) Sailing in fog so thick that he could see 200 only feet ahead of the ship's bow and c.) Sailing at an unsafe speed.

2.) Cota navigated the ship by giving directions on course and speed even though he had poor communication with the ship's Chinese officers and crew.

NEGLIGENCE, ERRORS & CHARGES

3.) By law knowledge of English is required of deck officers and certain other seafarers, the Cosco Busan's crew apparently had limited understanding of English, which contributed to the accident.

4.) Cota should have used extra care to ensure that the crew understood his plan for sailing in a heavy fog.


5.) Cota made no effort to determine the visibility on the bay, relying instead on the ship's (unreliable) radar to see that his course was clear.

6.) Cota failed to exercise sound judgment when he thought the radar was unreliable.


7.) Cota's fatal error was to rely on an electronic chart on the Cosco Busan and on the advice of Captain Sun, the ship's skipper.

8.) Cota asked Sun to point to a symbol on the electronic chart showing the center of the channel between the two bridge towers closest to Yerba Buena Island. Sun instead pointed to a symbol that represented one of the towers.


8.) The report said "prudence would have dictated that he abort the attempted transit and turn south to a safe anchorage."


October 24, 2008 (SF Chronicle) Oil spill ship pilot found at fault in accident Carl Nolte, Chronicle Staff Writer

SUMMARY:

The case in federal court also involves other lawsuits. Defendants include the vessel, its owners, operators and Cota himself. The costs of the accident, including cleanup and damage to fishing operators, could exceed $80 million.

CASE CHARGES: SUMMARY

The pilot commission report said the Cosco Busan sailed when visibility was a quarter of a mile or less. Regulations now require that visibility be at least half a mile before a ship can proceed in certain restricted areas, including the approaches to the Port of Oakland. Rules now are being considered that would require ship pilots to carry laptop computers with uniform electronic charts.

NEW REGULATIONS:

Ships which exceed over 1,600 gross tons may not leave the dock or sail in certain restricted areas when the visibility is less than a quarter of a mile. The collision between a big ship and a fixed object is called an allusion.

NEW REGULATIONS:

Several State bills were signed into law to help increase response to oil spills and ecological incidents, such as AB2911 requiring more training and funding ($500,000) from oil company accessed fees plus $650,000 from the State for local governments training and response equipment.

(SF Chronicle, Volunteers Article, Jane Kay, November 2, 2008)

NEW REGULATIONS:

1.) A year after the Cosco Busan container ship crashed into the Bay Bridge and spilled 53,000 gallons of heavy fuel oil into San Francisco Bay, the sticky, reeking mess has largely disappeared. Left behind are patches of oil oozing out after warm weather and tar bells surfacing during big storms.

ECOLOGICAL IMPACTS:

2.) Its not just the loss of numbers but also the subtle effects on reproduction rates and resiliency of the ecosystem, they say. Researchers have to dig deep to find minuscule changes in photosynthesis rates in wetland vegetation or chemical levels in native oyster beds on Angel Island.

ECOLOGICAL IMPACTS:

3.) The spilled oil was bunker fuel; the dregs of refining and more toxic than crude oil. Microorganisms don't degrade bunker fuel as well as crude because it contains so many chemicals

ECOLOGICAL IMPACTS:

4.) The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other agencies have a legal obligation to prepare a natural resource damage assessment, which determines injury and the cost of repair. In this case, the ship's owner, Regal Stone Ltd. of Hong Kong, will be billed for the damage.

ECOLOGICAL IMPACTS:

5.) "We know there is residual oil from the spill, and might occur from months to years later," said Michael Feinstein, a spokesman for the National Park Service.

6.) Six months after the spill, cleanup crews closed Rodeo Beach in the Marin Headlands removing oil from rocky outcrops and from beneath the sand's surface. The workers in 4 days filled 50 bags with 150 pounds of heavily oiled sediment.

ECOLOGICAL IMPACTS:

7.) Toxic tides of goo sickened and killed hundreds of surf scoters, grebes, cormorants, common murres and loons, and invaded feeding grounds of mudflats, eelgrass coves and rocky shorelines.

8.) Nearly 3,000 birds in 31 species were found dead or oiled, raising the specter that 10 times as many might have disappeared before they could be caught and cleaned. Of the 1,068 birds captured alive, 418 were released.

ECOLOGICAL IMPACTS:

9.) Oil hit 56 miles of rocky shoreline, 52 miles of sandy beaches, 10 miles of salt marsh and several hundred acres of eelgrass, which serve as fish and bird sanctuaries in the bay's remaining wetlands.

ECOLOGICAL IMPACTS:

10.) Three months after the spill, the herring, the Bay’s only remaining commercial fish, swam to spawn in traditional grounds - both oiled - on the Marin coast and the San Francisco waterfront. High levels of mortality and deformities were found in the spawned herring eggs that had been directly oiled.

ECOLOGICAL IMPACTS:

11.) Mussels are tested for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, a toxic component of petroleum. They serve as a fingerprint of the Cosco Busan fuel oil, and are used as a gauge for how long the oil remains in the bay.

ECOLOGICAL IMPACTS:

12.) Cal State East Bay is assessing the fate of the tiny invertebrates that live on the blades of grass and deep in the sand, including the small crustaceans, the amphipods, and snails. Looking closely at the creatures at the base of the food chain reveals the health of the bay and richness of the food supply for fish, birds and larger animals.

ECOLOGICAL IMPACTS:

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Cosco Busan, Container Ship oil spill SF BAY 2008_BAZELEY USCG-AUX 17 PA

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Transcript of Cosco Busan, Container Ship oil spill SF BAY 2008_BAZELEY USCG-AUX 17 PA