The salvage operations of the motor vessel Golden Ray are paused due to a combination of factors including COVID-19 mitigation protocols, as well as the hurricane season, the Unified Command overseeing the wreck removal announced, almost 11 months after the ship grounded in St. Simons Sound, Georgia.
Following the giant VLOC “Stella Banner’s” grounding on February 24, the 300.000 DWT vessel was intentionally sunk on Friday approximately 150km from Maranhão.
The first high-density polyethylene (HDPE) floating pipe barrier segment has been placed around the wreck of the Golden Ray.
Contractors have begun placing containers around the car carrier Golden Ray, six months after the ship grounded off St. Simons Island, Georgia, in an effort to reduce tidal flow effects during salvage operations.
On Thursday, contractors are scheduled to begin construction of an environmental protection barrier (EPB) around the car carrier Golden Ray, almost six months after the ship grounded in St. Simons Sound, Georgia.
Attorneys for salvors Donjon-SMIT filed a lawsuit against the USCG last week, aiming to stop salvage operations that are currently underway for the capsized car carrier Golden Ray. The lawsuit relates to USCG’s decision to allow the vessel owner to tender for third-party contractors who were not part of the approved response plan, to dismantle the ship on fixed-price instead of cost-plus terms.
The Unified Command (UC) for the St. Simons Sound Incident Response and assisting organizations are collaborating in finalizing plans for the construction of an environmental protection barrier (EPB) to be built around ‘Golden Ray’.
Fire broke out on the wreck of the ro-ro Golden Ray in St. Simons Sound on January 19. When the fire started contractors were contacting welding operations inside the ship. Luckily, the fire was contained within the hull and was quickly put out by the contractor’s fireboat.
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.
After the container vessel VietSun Integrity capsized on October 19, on the Long Tau River, Vietnamese authorities began the salvage operations; Yet, local reports inform that during salvage operations, two divers remain missing, one was found and additional two were trapped under the collapsed container.
