Bay Bridge Ship Collision

The Cosco Busan crashed into the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge dumping over 58,000 gallons of bunker fuel oil into the Bay waters, which is the biggest environmental disaster in this local area in over two decades. It seems the pilot reported the ship’s radar was out just before the crash. However, tests by the National Transportation and Safety Board’s technician following the accident found it working properly. The pilot also told investigators that he had problems with the ship's electric charts, but the agency has not checked the ship's voyage voice recorder yet to make sure that claim was true. Also, the pilot has claimed the radar “conked out” twice after leaving the docks at the Port of Oakland.

The National Transportation and Safety Board should have been more thorough in their check with the radar. The pilot had reported problems with the radar and electric charts several times before the crash. The agency should have known what a problem such defects in the equipment could have caused and take better actions. They should have had the ship dock in a closer location to check out the problems instead of letting it continue its course.

The National Transportation and Safety Board’s lack of concern has created an environmental crisis in the Bay. Their disregard to the problems with the equipment led to the crash creating the spill. However, there were also problems with the clean-up, which created an even bigger disaster.

Apparently, after the reported spill it took clean up crews over 90 minutes to get to the scene. The crew also too several hours to inform officials that the spill was much larger than they first anticipated. The coast guard says there was miscommunication between them and the public. However, it is completely unacceptable to take over an hour to start cleaning up the spill. They are aware of how harmful oil spills are to the local economy as well as the marine life. They took so long to react to the spill that by the next day the oil was all over the bay.

The National Transportation and Safety Board and the Coast Guard did not perform their jobs effectively or efficiently. The National Transportation and Safety Board should have had enough experience with failed radars to know such a detrimental incident could occur. They should have taken immediate action to correct the faulty equipment, instead of ignoring the problem since their tests claimed everything was in working order. Furthermore, the Coast Guard is well aware of what oil spills can do to a local economy. They should have reacted quicker to the incident and started cleaning up the spill before it affected the entire bay. Furthermore, local officials should have been contacted immediately when they noticed the size of the spill. Both agencies were not doing their job to ensure the safety of the bay. They acted lazily towards the incident and now the fisherman of the bay will suffer.