Notably, salvors have finished removing all the fuel from the tanks accessible on the capsized car carrier Golden Ray. It is said that more than 320,000 gallons of oil and water mixture were removed, while the St. Simons Sound Unified Command is still carrying out a forensic investigation in order to establish an accurate measure of the fuel onboard at the time of the incident and the amount discharged into the environment.
In fact, fuel was pumped from the tanks into a barge for proper disposal and the interiors of the tanks were washed with steam to remove residual fuel, which was then collected and transferred into containers.
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It is said that salvage workers and divers have been able to access the 26 fuel tanks, by rappelling and conducting dive operations inside the wreck as some of the fuel tanks were submerged and could only be reached this way.
What is more, the salvage team have begun the removal of the vessel’s propeller; propeller shaft and rudder, which weighs a total of approximately 130 tons, in order to improve the stability of the capsized PCTC Golden Ray.
Namely, Chief Warrant Officer Jeremiah Winston, Unified Command Salvage Branch director highlighted that
This operation will help sustain the integrity of the wreck while we prepare for its full removal.
The removal project which can take up to five days will be operated by the crane barges Farrell and Columbia, operated by DONJON Marine which are already in place.
The Unified Command is currently seeking proposals for the construction of a barrier to protect the environment while the wreck is disassembled and the whole project could take up to one year.
Notably, in November 20, the U.S. Coast Guard told local leaders that the wreck of the capsized PCTC Golden Ray may take more than a year to remove from St. Simons Sound, Georgia.
During a meeting of the Brunswick-Golden Isles Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, Cmdr. Matt Baer (USCG), who works with the Unified Command responsible for overseeing the salvage operation, said that the vessel’s position on a soft sandbank will make the effort lengthy and challenging.
Earlier in October, the USCG announced that they would continue their attempts to keep the marine environment safe in the area where Golden Ray grounded, as following the improved weather conditions, on-water response resumed and lightering operations had then already removed 200,000 gallons of fuel from the vessel.
