SF: Coast Guard failed to warn ship's pilot about hitting the Bay Bridge, investigators say

[Kadie]

Coast Guard failed to warn ship's pilot about hitting the Bay Bridge, investigators say
Demian Bulwa,Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writers

Thursday, November 15, 2007


(11-15) 15:09 PST San Francisco - --

The Coast Guard did not warn the Cosco Busan that it was about to sideswipe the base of a Bay Bridge tower last week, even after the freighter appeared to be seriously off course, investigators said today.

The National Transportation and Safety Board reported that in the moments before the collision on Nov. 7, operators at the Coast Guard's Vessel Traffic Service asked pilot John Cota where he was heading because the ship seemed to be straying from a course under the the bridge.

In fact, the pilot's bearing was so wrong that traffic monitors thought he intended to stop the ship south of the bridge.

Cota radioed back that he indeed intended to pilot the ship under the bridge, and the service operators decided to leave him alone as he negotiated the delicate task, investigators said.

That maneuver went disastrously wrong when the ship scraped the bridge, creating a hole in the hull that allowed 58,000 gallons of bunker fuel to dump into the bay. The spill soon spread, and in the days to come it fouled dozens of miles of lagoons, beaches and oceanfront throughout the region, killing hundreds of birds and infuriating citizens and politicians from the Bay Area to Washington, D.C.

more...
http://www.sfgate.com/flat/archive/2007/11/15/chronicle/archive/2007/11/15/BAJITD7LD.html

[XemaSab]

1. Irritating that they describe this as a "delicate task."

The ship's 130 feet wide, and the distance between the piers is 2210 feet wide.

Meanwhile, I've seen massive ocean vessels go into the ship channel at Alameda that had about 30 feet of clearance on both sides. :o

And of course massive ships go through the Panama and other canals with alarmingly little room.

[TheCowsCameHome]

2. Probably delicate because he was beyond the point where a safe turn could be made

Sounds like the Busan overshot the turning point and then tried to correct the error.