cosco-busan
Posted May 7, 2008
On 9/7/2007 the container ship “COSCO Busan”, owned by Hong Kong-based Regal Stone Ltd., struck the Golden Gate Bridge, spilling 53 thousand gallons of bunker fuel into San Francisco Bay.
Due to the tidal mechanics of the bay, the spill spread rapidly, affecting a large area of the California coastline, including the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Ocean Beach and the Marin Headlands. Over twenty public beaches were closed. However, a researcher investigating long term effects of the spill is quoted in a recent article in the Marin Independent Journal article as stating that “We think the spill may have been much more widespread and went farther than the obvious locations.”
According to an SFGate article dated January 21, 2008, the International Bird Rescue Research Center has received 3,000 oiled birds since last November, most of which were either D.O.A. or were euthanized later. Oiled birds could well continue showing up for years, according to experts. (source)
Recently, Marin County officials sent a bill for $600,000 for cleanup costs to Regal Stones’ representatives in the U.S., Hudson Marine Management of Pennsauken, New Jersey.
Months later, six Chinese crew members from COSCO Busan remain in the United States as material witnesses, their status left up in the air by the developing legal storm cloud that has resulted from the incident. They are charged with no crime or infraction, yet are prevented from leaving. Regal Stone is paying them full salary plus a $50 daily food allowance, but they apparently do not see this as a paid vacation; they have families waiting for them in China, (but no jobs - their positions on the tanker have been refilled). (source)
