DID THE BAY BRIDGE GET I35W KISS OF DEATH?
rumormillnews.com
By: tangodog
November 12, 2007
On November 7, 2007, the Cosco Busan container ship bound for South Korea hit the protective bumper around the second bridge tower west of Yerba Buena Island while sailing in very heavy fog. The Cosco Busan sustained a gash on its port side 70 feet long. The buffer around the tower was damaged and so was the ship, but the tower itself suffered no damage. Fuel spilled for thirty minutes following the collision and resulted in 58,000 gallons of fuel oil polluting the Bay.
The original bridge designs were by Ralph Modjeski. The Bay Bridge opened for traffic on November 12, 1936, six months before San Francisco's other famous bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge.
China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (abbreviated as COSCO) is one of the largest liner shipping companies serving companies all over the world. It is a government owned company of the People's Republic of China.
According to the company, it owns over 130 vessels (320,000 TEU capacity) and calls on over 100 ports worldwide.[1]
It ranks sixth largest in number of container ships and ninth largest in aggregate container volume in the world.[2]
On November 7, 2007, shortly after being warned that it was off course, the Cosco Busan hit the western tower of the San Francisco Bay Bridge.[3] The impact ripped a hole in the vessel and spilled 58,000 gallons of fuel oil into the San Francisco Bay. Damage was extensive. All beaches and islands in the bay were contaminated and closed, hundreds of birds and other wildlife were killed and there was wide-ranging economic impact. The annual crab fishing season was canceled and all sport fishing was halted.[4]