- Shipping containers used to help stabilize Golden Ray.
- Weeks 541 barge crane is placing the shipping containers that are building the environmental protection barrier.
- All 23 shipping containers with rocks have holes in the side to allow water in and it takes about four minutes for a container to sink.
- The 140-foot-long steel piles are being placed in pairs, driven roughly half their length in the sand bed below.
- The piles will serve as the support for a giant mesh barrier that is intended to catch loose debris once crews on the VB 10,000 barge crane start chain sawing the ship.
- Hope to have the shipwreck removed by the start of hurricane season in June.
The Weeks 541 barge crane is placing the shipping containers that are building the environmental protection barrier, reports The Brunswick News.
Effort to stabilize the ship
The crane dropping shipping containers into the water near the overturned Golden Ray, is part of the latest effort to help stabilize the 656-long ship, which flipped over on its port side Sept. 8 in the swift-running tidal currents of the St. Simons Sound.
The shipwreck
The effort started about two weeks ago. Work is focusing on stabilizing the bow and stern of the shipwreck, which sits half-submerged in the sandy seabed between St. Simons and Jekyll islands. The shipwreck is located just south of the federal shipping lane to the Port of Brunswick.
What is the procedure followed?
- Each of the 23 shipping containers are filled with porous riprap rock.
- Holes have been made in the side of the containers to allow water in.
- Holes have been screened over to prevent marine life from entering.
- It takes about four minutes for a container to sink.
Placing of the containers
- The shipping containers are being placed in an arcing semicircle on either side of the bow area and the stern area.
- The Weeks 541 barge crane is placing the shipping containers.
- The crane is owned by Weeks Marine, the company that is building the environmental protection barrier.
Technology used
Sonar technology is being employed to precisely guide the giant building blocks in place below the water’s surface.
Listing contained
In late October, crews dropped some 6,000 tons of aggregate rock around the ship’s hull to shore up its stability and reduce scouring and erosion. This was done around the port’s sunken hull.
At that time the shipwreck had listed from a 90-degree angle to a 100 degree angle in its perch on the sound’s sandy bottom. There has been no significant listing in the ship’s position since.
For more information please read our article 6,000 Tons Rock To Stabilize the Overturned Georgia Cargo Ship
Precaution against swift currents
Spies said that the shipping containers are intended as a precaution against the swift currents of the sound.
She added, though not an emergency action, the implementation was to prevent erosion around the vessel.
Environmental protection barrier
Spies said crews had driven 52 of the 80 piles that will be used in a 33-acre environmental protection barrier that is being built around the ship.
- The 140-foot-long steel piles are being placed in pairs, driven roughly half their length in the sand bed below.
- The piles will serve as the support for a giant mesh barrier that is intended to catch loose debris once crews on the VB 10,000 barge crane start chain sawing the ship into eight pieces.
Vehicles inside Golden Ray’s cargo
The barrier is expected to catch any of the 4,200 vehicles inside the Golden Ray’s cargo hold that might shake free during the process.
- Once the barrier is in place, the VB 10,000 barge will move in through a gate in the structure.
- The 240-foot-high, dual-hulled barge will straddle the shipwreck, powering the giant chain saw that will slice the ship into sections of between 2,700 to 4,100 tons each.
- The VB 10,000 will then hoist the sections onto a specially-designed barge, with a walled deck to prevent spill-off of fuel and other contaminants, for transport to a recycling facility in Louisiana.
Wreck to be removed before hurricane season
Unified Command, ship’s salvage contractor T&T Salvage and environmental protection barrier contractor Weeks Marine hope to have the bulk of the shipwreck removed by the start of hurricane season in June.
According to Unified Command, all other debris inside the barrier and the barrier itself will eventually be removed.
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Source: The Brunswick News
