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32-563: The Cosco Busan oil spill occurred at 08:30 UTC-8 on 7 November 2007 between San Francisco and Oakland, California , in which 53,569 US gal (202,780 L) of IFO-380 heavy fuel oil , sometimes referred to as " bunker fuel ", spilled into San Francisco Bay after the container ship Cosco Busan , operated by Fleet Management Limited struck Delta Tower of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge in thick fog. Investigators found that maritime pilot John Cota

64-423: A ferry or regular trader, may be issued with a pilotage exemption certificate, which relieves them of the need to take a pilot on board. The Florida Alliance of Maritime Organizations reported that Florida pilots' annual salaries range from US$ 100,000 to US$ 400,000, on par with other US states that have large ports. Columbia Bar pilots earn approximately US$ 180,000 per year. A 2008 review of pilot salaries in

96-416: A pilot who was affected by pharmaceuticals. First Mate Kongxiang Hu left his post as lookout to eat breakfast. Second Mate Shun Biao Zhao failed to plan the ship's course out of the bay and then forged his colleagues' signatures on a plan drafted after the accident. And Third Mate Hong Zhi Wang failed to monitor the ship’s path using GPS. In addition, investigations conducted by independent experts from

128-555: A pilot, including local knowledge of the area. For example, the California Board of Pilot Commissioners requires that pilot trainees have a master's license, two years' command experience on tugs or deep draft vessels, and pass a written exam and simulator exercise, followed by a period of up to three years' training, gaining experience with different types of vessel and docking facilities. Following licensing, pilots are required to engage in continuing educational programs. Typically,

160-406: A plea agreement with prosecutors to federal water pollution and migratory bird killing charges. The agreement called for him to serve two to ten months in prison and included a fine between $ 3,000 and $ 30,000. On 10 July, he was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment. On 19 September 2011, federal, state, and local agencies announced a final comprehensive civil settlement for $ 44.4 million. It included

192-488: A series of mistakes by the maritime pilot Captain John Cota. The 18-page report found Cota had made seven serious errors in piloting the ship, including failing to correctly read an electronic chart on the ship, sailing in fog so thick that he could see only 200 feet ahead and sailing at an unsafe speed. Cota faced seven federal charges for spilling oil and killing federally protected birds. On 6 March 2009, Cota negotiated

224-648: Is a licensed maritime pilot for the Port of New York and New Jersey, the Hudson River, and Long Island Sound. Sandy Hook pilots have been piloting ships in the New York Harbor for over 300 years. The pilots of New York and Boston first served on Square rigs before entering the pilot service as boat keepers, later receiving their warrants as pilots, then their full commissions as branch pilots authorized to pilot vessels of any draught size. In English law , by section 742 of

256-516: Is believed to have come from the Middle French , pilot , pillot , from Italian, pilota , from Late Latin , pillottus ; ultimately from Ancient Greek πηδόν (pēdón, "blade of an oar, oar"). The work functions of the pilot can be traced back to Ancient Greece and Rome , when locally experienced harbour captains, mainly local fishermen , were employed by incoming ships' captains to bring their trading vessels into port safely. The pilot boat

288-561: The Merchant Shipping Act 1894 ( 57 & 58 Vict. c. 60), a pilot is defined as "any person not belonging to a ship who has the conduct thereof"—someone other than a member of the crew who has control over the speed, direction, and movement of the ship. The Pilotage Act 1987 governs the management of maritime pilots and pilotage in harbors in the United Kingdom . Pilots are required to have maritime experience prior to becoming

320-877: The Golden Gate. The tests found unsafe levels of contaminants in mussels from Rodeo Beach and the Berkeley pier. An estimated 1,079,900 recreational use days were also lost as a result of the spill. This includes general shoreline use as well as recreational fishing and boating. Total monetary damages were estimated at $ 2.1 million for the ship, $ 1.5 million for the bridge's fender, and more than $ 70 million for oil spill cleanup. Initial official releases from public agencies warned against involvement of volunteers, and worked to deflect volunteers into non-contact activities. This included asking people to act as drivers for bird transport, or as support staff to other efforts. The U.S. Coast Guard directed volunteers to clean non-oiled beaches. For

352-697: The San Francisco Bay Oiled Wildlife Care and Education Center in Fairfield to be rehabilitated by University of California, Davis , veterinary medical students, and as of 25 November, some birds were returned to the wild. On 21 December 2007, the Cosco Busan , having been renamed the Hanjin Venezia , sailed out of San Francisco Bay en route to Busan , South Korea , with a new crew working her decks. US$ 1.5 million in repairs were completed to

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384-503: The United States government filed a lawsuit against the ship and the pilot. On 23 July 2008, a federal grand jury indicted Fleet Management Ltd. of Hong Kong, the company that operated Cosco Busan . The indictment included six felonies for allegedly falsifying documents to interfere with a federal investigation and two misdemeanor counts of criminal negligence for allegedly helping to cause the spill. The company offered to plead guilty to

416-615: The United States showed that pay ranged from about US$ 250,000 to over US$ 500,000 per year. The Sandy Hook Pilots Association in Staten Island , New York , has 50 employees across its locations and generates $ 7.15 million in sales (USD). Pilot compensation has been controversial in many ports, including the Los Angeles and Long Beach , California , especially in regard to pilots who are employed by public agencies instead of acting as independent contractors. Los Angeles pilots get $ 374,000

448-460: The bridge fender, three weeks ahead of schedule and $ 500,000 under budget around the same time. UTC-8 UTC−08:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of −08:00. This time is used: Principal cities: Vancouver , Victoria , Seattle , Portland , San Francisco , Los Angeles , San Diego , Sacramento , Las Vegas , Tijuana Principal city: Anchorage Principal settlement: Adamstown Maritime pilot The word pilot

480-422: The certification is valid for only one incident, e.g., this oil spill. Ad-hoc volunteers were discouraged from cleaning beaches during the early days following the spill, as government workers and private contractor The O'Brien's Group handled the official disaster response. On 11 November 2007, cleanup and reports were focused on damage assessment of Cosco Busan . Oil-soaked birds were put in boxes and driven to

512-542: The developers of new support systems and the aimed level of "dependability" of integrated ship bridge systems this is a great disadvantage. Senator Barbara Boxer and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom criticized the Coast Guard for its response, as its initial reported figures, between 100 and 400 US gal (380 and 1,510 L) of oil, were significantly lower than those of the actual spill. On Friday 30 November 2007,

544-420: The first few days OSHA rules were interpreted as requiring HAZWOPER certification, a minimum of 24 hours of classroom time, before involvement in any effort that may result in oil contact. Eventually, and after significant pressure from would-be volunteers, a four-hour "Disaster Service Worker Volunteer Certification" subset of the course was offered. OSHA rules require exactly 240 minutes of classroom time, and

576-668: The following: The tidal mechanics of San Francisco Bay caused the spill to spread rapidly, affecting a large area of the California North Coast , including the Golden Gate National Recreation Area , Ocean Beach and the Marin Headlands . More than 50 public beaches were closed, including Crissy Field , Fort Point , Baker Beach , China Beach and Kirby Cove . By 14 November 2007, beaches as far south as Pacifica, California , had been closed due to

608-502: The incident. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency after meeting federal, state and local officials overseeing the cleanup. The proclamation made additional state personnel, funding and equipment available to assess and clean up the environmental damage . The National Transportation Safety Board determined the following probable causes of the accident: Other contributing factors included: Master Mao Cai Sun meekly abdicated control of his ship to

640-481: The international maritime community also highlighted the potential effects of insufficient human-machine interface design, contributing to such accidents even though " human error " is often directly used as the main cause without further investigating shortcomings in the HMI. This is, even though HMI has been accepted as a significant factor in aviation accidents for many decades: Lack of investigation of accidents at sea and

672-455: The last ones to be signed off as cleaned because of the additional maintenance and monitoring that were required. According to the federal and state natural resource trustee agencies, the spill is estimated to have killed 6,849 birds. 2,519 were collected: 1,084 were collected alive (789 of which died; 295 of which were rehabilitated and released) and 1,856 were collected dead. About 200 miles (320 km) of coastline, incorporating 3,367 acres,

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704-400: The master has full responsibility for the safe navigation of their vessel, even when a pilot is on board. If they have clear grounds that the pilot may jeopardize the safety of navigation, they can relieve the pilot from their duties and ask for another pilot, or, if not required to have a pilot on board, navigate the vessel without one. In every case, during the time passed aboard for operation,

736-560: The misdemeanors. This federal criminal case was resolved when Fleet paid $ 10 million in fines and restitution. $ 8 million went to a victim/witness fund and $ 2 million went to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to be used for environmental projects in the Bay Area. On 23 October 2008, the California state Board of Pilot Commissioners released a report, saying the spill was the result of

768-544: The parties involved in the accident can be proved by the investigation report, the true causes of such accident like the container ship "Cosco Busan" stay in the darkness or in the field of speculation! The faulty design of man-machine-interfaces and deficiencies in information processing and others remain largely unmentioned. Based on a careful analysis of the accident documents the author proves that technical weaknesses were overlooked as well as failures in displaying and processing of information had not been taken into account. For

800-473: The pilot joins an incoming ship prior to the ship's entry into the shallow water at the designated "pilot boarding area" via helicopter or pilot boat and climbs a pilot ladder , sometimes up to 40 feet (12 metres), to the deck of the largest container and tanker ships. Before climbing the pilot ladder, the pilot performs a visual inspection of the boarding arrangement to confirm it is safe to use and in accordance with international requirements. As both

832-480: The pilot will remain under the master's authority, and always out of the "ship's command chain." The pilot remains aboard as an important and indispensable part of the bridge team. Only in transit of the Panama Canal does the pilot have full responsibility for the navigation of the vessel. In some countries, deck officers of vessels who have strong local knowledge and experience of navigating in those ports, such as

864-550: The rash classification of the causes in the category of "human error" will help to cover weaknesses in the design of man-machine-interfaces. This is supported by legal regulations for the Bridge Team Management, the high investment cost for ship handling simulators, the low contribution of human-oriented research and its public support, as well as the readiness of manufacturers to develop more integrated and reliable process control systems. Although an inappropriate behaviour of

896-592: The ship to be piloted and the pilot's own vessel are usually moving this may be dangerous, especially in rough seas. With outgoing vessels, a pilot boat returns the pilot to land after the ship has successfully negotiated coastal waters. Pilots are required by law in most major sea ports of the world for large ships. Pilots use pilotage techniques that rely on nearby visual reference points and local knowledge of tides , swells, currents , depths and shoals that might not be readily identifiable on nautical charts without firsthand experience in certain waters. Legally,

928-470: The spill. Richmond's shoreline and wildlife were seriously affected by the spill. Beaches and shorelines were closed, but later reopened. However, access was still restricted as of December 2007. The government organizations responsible for the cleanup response and recovery devoted much effort to the East Bay and Rodeo Beach since they were the areas most impacted. The Rodeo Beach and Albany Beach segments were

960-550: Was impaired because of his use of prescription pharmaceuticals while piloting the container vessel, which rendered him unable to use the onboard radar and electronic navigation charts correctly. This occurred despite the fact that the Vessel Traffic Service of the United States Coast Guard warned Cota that the vessel was headed for the bridge. Cota was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison for his role in

992-458: Was made to quickly reach incoming ships from port. Harbor masters began to require licensing and insured pilots and placed regulations on incoming ships to bring pilots aboard. Inland brown water trade also relies on the work of pilots known as trip pilots . Due to the shortage of qualified posted masters, these independent contractors fill the holes in the manning schedule on inland push boats on various inland river routes. A Sandy Hook pilot

Cosco Busan oil spill - Misplaced Pages Continue

1024-632: Was oiled. The eggs laid by herring , which typically enter the bay in December, were killed in areas affected by the spill. It is estimated that 14 to 29% of the herring spawn in winter 2007-8 were lost due to the spill. Several fisheries in the Bay Area may have been affected by the spill and the crab and sport fishing seasons were postponed by several weeks. As of 30 November, State biologists had tested more than 1100 samples of fish, mussels and Dungeness crab in San Francisco Bay and coastal waters outside

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