An empty oil tanker struck a Bay Bridge tower Monday morning, causing minimal damage to both the span and vessel, according to responding agencies.

The Overseas Reymar sideswiped a tower on the west side of the bridge about 11:20 a.m., said San Francisco Fire Department Lt. Mindy Talmadge. Though there were no immediate signs of oil leaking into the Bay, the Fire Department, Coast Guard and Caltrans continued to inspect both the bridge and the tanker for most of Monday afternoon.

There was some damage to the barrier at the base of the tower, according to Talmadge, and a hole was ripped open on the starboard side of the ship.

Traci Ruth, a Caltrans spokeswoman, said crews were inspecting the west span’s towers, but traffic on the bridge was not affected.

No injuries were reported.

The incident recalled memories of a major crash in 2007 that spilled 53,000 gallons of oil into the Bay. Oil leaking from the Cosco Busan contaminated 26 miles of shoreline, killed more than 2,500 birds and delayed the start of the crab-fishing season.

“There’s all kinds of speculation as to whether the ship had been pushed into the fender by a strong tide, rather than a head-on collision,” Charlie Goodyear, a spokesman for the San Francisco Bar Pilots Association, said of Monday’s incident. “In comparing this to 2007, this appears to be a much lesser impact.”

Investigators have not said why the crash occurred. The tanker docked west of Yerba Buena Island immediately following the crash, and the pilot was being interviewed by both the Coast Guard and the California Board of Pilot Commissioners for the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo and Suisun, which regulates bar pilots, the mariners who steer vessels through hazardous waters.

State law requires a bar pilot to guide every large vessel — be it a luxury liner, a billionaire’s yacht, aircraft carrier or cargo ship — into, out of and around San Francisco Bay.

akoskey@sfexaminer.com

The Associated Press contributed to this report.