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San Francisco Bay Bridge News

19 Mar 2019

DAPI 101: Outreach and Enforcement

Even as the minimum Random Drug Testing Rate is raised to 50 PCT, the Coast Guard wants its mission to consist of 90% outreach and just 10% enforcement. Really.The domestic waterfront got some less-than-happy news when the U.S. Coast Guard announced that the calendar year 2019 minimum random drug testing rate had been set at 50 percent of covered crewmembers. It’s safe to say that nobody is happy about it, much less the Coast Guard itself.In truth, the Coast Guard had little to say about the matter. 46 CFR part 16.230(f)(2) requires the Commandant to set the minimum random drug testing rate at 50 percent when the positivity rate for drug use is greater than one percent.

03 Oct 2013

A Shipyard First Bug-O System’s Heavy-Duty MDS and Hardcoat Anodized Rail

 Brad Mutschler – Mechanical Engineer and Product / Industry Manager- Shipyards. BUG-O Systems, Canonsburg, PA       Email: bmutschler@weld.com

With popular television shows such as “Modern Marvels” and “How It’s Made” showcasing larger structures and assemblies being designed, built and often welded, it’s important that manufactures and builders be equipped to handle such construction landmarks. In the last twenty-five years, huge construction projects have gone underway and some have since been completed with more and new projects to start every day. Such projects as the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge, Burj Khalifa in Dubai and Virginia Class Submarines were and are some projects driving the welding industry.

18 Mar 2013

China Focus for Swedish Club Academy

Logo courtesy of Swedish Club Academy

The Swedish Club Academy focuses on China during a five-day Maritime Resource Management road show at the end of March. MRM training aims at establishing safe operational cultures where teamwork and effective communication are key components, even to the extent of encouraging crew members to ‘challenge’ decisions made by their masters and superiors. “People with high rank can make mistakes too, and when they do the team members who detect it must be assertive enough to voice their concerns,” says Martin Hernqvist, Managing Director of The Swedish Club Academy.

08 Jan 2013

Coast Guard Investigating Allision at Bay Bridge, San Francisco

Photo: courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

The Coast Guard is investigating a vessel allision with the San Francisco Bay Bridge. The 752-foot Marshall Island's-registered tanker Overseas Reymar reported to the Coast Guard at approximately 11:20 a.m. that it had allided with tower six of the Bay Bridge in the San Francisco Bay. The vessel was immediately directed to an anchorage area just west of Alcatraz Island by the Coast Guard Captain of the Port. The vessel was in ballast at the time of the incident. There were no reports of injuries and no reports of pollution.

20 Jul 2009

Prison Sentence For Cosco Busan Pilot

John Joseph Cota, the pilot who caused the Cosco Busan, a 900-ft long container ship, to collide with the San Francisco Bay Bridge and discharge approximately 53,000 gallons of oil into San Francisco Bay, was sentenced to serve 10 months in federal prison by U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston for the Northern District of California, the Justice Department announced. Cota, who was a licensed bar pilot at the time of the collision, gave commands that caused the 65,131-ton Hong Kong-registered ship to collide with the bridge on Nov. 7, 2007. Cota was sentenced according to an agreement in which he pleaded guilty to negligently causing discharge of a harmful quantity of oil in violation of the Clean Water Act (CWA)…

09 Mar 2009

Guilty Plea in Case of Cosco Busan Ship Pilot

John Joseph Cota, a California ship pilot, pleaded guilty on March 6 to negligently causing the discharge of approximately 53,000 gallons of oil into San Francisco Bay in violation of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, a law enacted in the wake of the Exxon Valdez disaster. Cota, who piloted the M/V Cosco Busan when it hit the San Francisco Bay Bridge on Nov. 7, 2007, also pleaded guilty to violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act for the death of protected migratory birds. If the plea terms are accepted by U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston, Cota will be sentenced to serve between two and ten months in prison and be fined between $3,000 to $30,000.

13 Dec 2007

San Francisco on Oil Spill: Sue Everyone

Two Coast Guard small boats set a security zone around the 900-foot container ship Cosco Busan. The ship hit the San Francisco Bay Bridge Nov. 7, 2007 spilling an estimated 58,000 gallons of oil into the bay.(U.S. City Attorney Dennis Herrera filed suit in San Francisco Superior Court, under the State's Lempert-Keene-Seastrand Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act and other state laws, against the parties responsible for the November 7 oil spill incident in the San Francisco Bay. In that incident, the M/V Cosco Busan, a 65,131-ton, 900-ft.

19 Nov 2007

Coast Guard to Respond to Cosco Busan Spill

U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen announced that the Coast Guard has begun a comprehensive review of its response to the Cosco Busan oil spill in San Francisco Bay after the ship allided with the San Francisco Bay Bridge Nov. At the direction of the Commandant, the Coast Guard's Chief of Staff chartered an incident specific preparedness review (ISPR) that includes membership of federal, local, state, and industry stakeholders. The review will examine the implementation and effectiveness of the interagency area contingency plan - which guides how San Francisco Bay-area stakeholders respond to an oil or hazardous material spill -- and its integration with other applicable contingency plans at the federal, state, and local levels.

08 Nov 2007

Container Vessel Damages San Francisco Bay Bridge

The U.S. Coast Guard received a report of a container vessel Cosco Busan allision with the San Francisco Bay Bridge. The vessel was out bound with a pilot onboard at the time of the allision. The vessel reported damage to the forward left side and bulk fuel (MF 380) was leaking from the vessel. Visibility was limited during the time of the allision due to fog. U. S. Coast Guard and San Francisco Police Department are enforcing a 100 foot saftey zone around the vessel and the fuel in the water and CALTRANS is assessing the San Francisco Bay Bridge. The vessel is currently being moved to Anchorage 9. U. S. Coast Guard pollution investigators and marine inspectors from Sector San Francisco are conducting investigations into the amount of bulk fuel spilled and the cause of the allision.

11 Nov 2002

Coast Guard Stops Vessel From Collision

Coast Guard Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) San Francisco directed three tugboats to help divert a 700-foot dry-dock barge from colliding with the San Francisco Bay Bridge today. At approximately 8 p.m. today a night watchman from Pier 70 in San Francisco noticed that the dry-dock vessel had broken loose and notified the Coast Guard. Upon notification, the Coast Guard directed three tug boats to intercept the adrift vessel. The Coast Guard worked closely with the California Department of Transportation (CalTrans) and the California Highway Patrol (CHP) to ensure public safety on the Bay Bridge. The tug boats Brynn Foss and Andrew Foss of the Foss Maritime Co. and the Sharon Brusco of the Brusco Tug and Barge Co.