AN environmental-services worker cleans oil from Rodeo Beach in the Marin headlands of California, Friday, November 9, Volunteers are collecting hundreds of seabirds coated in black fuel oil as crews try to contain a spill from a container ship that collided with a bridge in the San Francisco Bay on November 7. --Bloomberg

SEOUL—San Francisco sued the owner, captain and operator of the Cosco Busan container ship that spilled 58,000 gallons of fuel oil into the city’s bay, seeking millions in compensation for cleanup and civil penalties.

The negligence lawsuit was filed Tuesday in San Francisco Superior Court against Hong Kong-based Regal Stone Ltd., the ship’s owner, John Cota, the ship’s captain, and Hanjin Shipping Co., South Korea’s largest shipping line, which chartered the ship, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera said in an e-mailed statement.

The parties neglected to follow procedures to prevent the spill by sailing too fast in fog without a tugboat and with insufficient information about visibility, the city claims in its complaint, which seeks to recoup cleanup costs. The suit also seeks fines of $25,000 to $500,000 a day for violations of oil-spill prevention laws.

“This was a wholly avoidable incident that has caused more injury to the San Francisco Bay area than we can yet begin to fathom,” Herrera said in the statement.

Darrell Wilson, a spokesman for Regal Stone, couldn’t be reached immediately for comment. John Meadows, Cota’s attorney, didn’t immediately respond to a voice-mail message.

“We are aware of the news, however, we have not been served with any writs and thus cannot make comments at present status,” Seoul-based Hanjin Shipping said in an e-mailed response to questions.

The 900-foot Cosco Busan struck the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge on November 7, ripping a hole in the ship’s side and leaking 58,000 gallons of oil. More than two dozen beaches were closed and fishing for human consumption was suspended.

The spill killed or injured more than 2,200 birds, as well as fish and marine mammals and other sea animals, and caused significant damage to bay-front properties, according to the statement.

Regal Stone and Cota also face a US Justice Department lawsuit and lawsuits seeking class-action, or group, status filed on behalf of fishermen and crabbers. Bloomberg

Fees for roads to Batangas facility

A JAPANESE lender has asked a government agency to collect toll fees on all vehicles using an access road and a fly-over leading to the Batangas Port.

FOREIGN companies, through their local vessel- management agencies, should be allowed to establish their own businesses locally so that their ships could be registered under the Philippine flag and possibly generate revenues for the government.

SEOUL—San Francisco sued the owner, captain and operator of the Cosco Busan container ship that spilled 58,000 gallons of fuel oil into the city’s bay, seeking millions in compensation for cleanup and civil penalties.