Today we are going to take a look at the massive salvage operation of the MV Golden Ray and the incredible coast guard mission to save the crew of the abandoned ship !

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CHAPTER 1
THE BASICS | MV Golden Ray

The MV Golden Ray was built in South Korea, by Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, one of the largest shipbuilding companies in the world. The ship had its official launch in August of 2016. In May of 2017, the Golden Ray was delivered to its owner, Hyundai Glovis. A logistics company that's part of the Hyundai Kia Automotive Group. If you haven’t guessed yet, the MV Golden Ray was a car carrier ship.

The carrier was massive, at a length of 656 ft, it had a capacity of 7,400 cars and could slice the waves at 19.5 knots, or 22.4 miles per hour.

CHAPTER 2
THE CAPSIZING | Port Brunswick Harbor

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Since September 2019, the car carrier MV Golden Ray has been lying on her side in shallow water near the Port of Brunswick in Georgia State. It was carrying 4,200 brand new Kia and Hyundai cars, and 100 cars from different manufacturers that were all headed for delivery to the Middle East.

The ship was filled with mostly Kia and Hyundai cars headed to the Middle east, and it is believed the incident was related to loss of stability due to improper cargo stowage and incorrect water ballasting. A really dangerous mix.

By October, it was decided that the MV Golden Ray was a total loss, and the ship would be cut up in place and scrapped.

CHAPTER 3
ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS |

By November of 2019, a nonprofit that monitors pollution in Georgia’s Altamaha River, described a concoction of contaminants that was already found in the water. Including gas and heavy bunker fuel that powered the ship… not to mention the gasoline, diesel and antifreeze from all the vehicles on board.

The discharge could have been limited to a small amount, but the oil and chemicals could have also washed into marshland and seeped into the sediment.

Concern was also expressed about a new wave of contaminants from the capsized ship when it is cut up for salvage. Oil-coated grass and floating tarballs were observed around St. Simon's Sound and St. Simon's Island.

CHAPTER 4
CLEAN UP |

The Golden Ray had 24 fuel tanks, and all of them were almost full when it capsized. Clean up operations focused on those tanks first and foremost. Only 20 days after the incident, two of the tanks were already pumped clean, and the rest were plugged up. Some 15,000 gallons were pumped out, from a total of 300,000 gallons on board.

During that time, the ship caught on fire, because why wouldn’t it ? That, coupled with saltwater corrosion and salvage costs, prompted the owners to declare the Golden Ray a total loss. At this point, it was decided that the best course of action would be to cut the ship up in place and scrap all of it.

Insurance losses on the ship were estimated at $80 million, plus an additional $80 million for its cargo.

By December of 2019, Coast Guard Authorities confirmed that workers had managed to remove all of the vessel’s fuel.

CHAPTER 5
SALVAGE |

In January of 2020, the ship caught on fire one more time, right before the start of cutting operations. This really threw the workers for a loop and slowed down the process.

The plan was to cut the ship up in 8 sections, each weighing between 2,700 and 4,100 tons.
Those pieces would then be removed on barges and brought to land for proper disposal.

By October, the VB-10,000, the largest lift vessel ever built in the United States, was positioned over the ship.The VB-10,000 is capable of lifting 6,800T, making it the perfect tool for the job. By the way, this machinery was built to clear debris from toppled oil drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. I imagine it's a sad day in any boardroom when the words “Bring out the VB-10,000” are spoken.

In November, the first cut, which was removing the vessel’s bow, was completed. It was originally expected to take a mere 24 hours, but a tropical storm and a broken cutting chain made the process last 20 days.

Oh yeah, the cutting chain. You might have wondered how they would cut up a massive ship.
With a cutting chain of course. The easiest way to explain it is to watch this video and think of a wire cheese cutter. But on a grand scale !

The process hasn’t been without issues though. At one point, the salvage company was accused of negligence when cars were filmed falling into the water. And in May, the ship caught fire AGAIN. This time it was extinguished fairly quickly.

By July 6th, 2021, section “3” was removed, leaving only two more cuts and three more sections to be transported to shore. It will be another few months before the salvage operation is complete.