SAN Francisco Bay area governments have fined the owner and operators of the 5,450-TEU Cosco Busan US$44.4 million for polluting California waters with a 53,000-gallon oil spill after the ship hit the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in 2007.This civil penalty comes on top of a jail term and other fines since proceedings were taken against the ship, its China Cosco owners, operators and pilot, who crashed the ship in heavy fog.
The amount of the fine was settled by the US Justice Department, the State of California, the City and County of San Francisco and the City of Richmond, reported American Shipper.
Federal and state experts said the spill killed 6,849 birds and affected 14 to 29 per cent of the herring spawn in winter 2007. Also, the spilt oil polluted 3,367 acres of shoreline habitat, causing a loss one million recreational user days.
In February 2010, the operating company of the Cosco Busan, Hong Kong's Fleet Management Ltd, was fined US$10 million for its role.
A US District Judge ordered the company to pay $8 million to the government and $2 million to a fund for environmental projects in San Francisco Bay, the report said.
The sentencing completed criminal proceedings arising from the collision, that government agencies said triggered a cleanup costing $70 million.
The ship's pilot, John Cota, pleaded guilty to federal pollution charges in March 2009 and was sentenced to a maximum 10 months in jail. Federal prosecutors said both Cota and Fleet Management were at fault. The pilot was criticised for deciding to sail in the fog and ignoring danger signals, and the company for failing to train the crew or notify Cota when the ship went off course.
US District Judge Susan Illston's sentence exceeded the prosecution's demand for a two-month sentence and a US$30,000 fine and made him the first ship's pilot in America to be imprisoned for an accident.
Source : HKSG, 22.09.11.
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