About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 2020)
STATE The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com Tuesday, December 1,2020 5A ‘Major milestone’ in removal of sunken ship off Ga. coast BY NEDRA RHONE The Atlanta Journal- Constitution ATLANTA - Salvage workers on the Georgia coast are set to begin cut ting the second section of the Golden Ray, the massive cargo ship that ran aground just over a year ago in the St. Simons Sound, after crews hit a milestone in removal operations this weekend. Onlookers watched Satur day as the bow, brimming with smashed cars and trucks and weighing about 6,600 tons, was cut from the body of the ship and lifted just high enough to allow a custom fitted barge to slide underneath. The section was then moved to a site on the East River where it will be secured for final tran sit to a recycling facility in Louisiana. “This is our first major milestone in the removal operation,” saidCmdr. Efren Lopez, U.S. Coast Guard fed eral on-scene coordinator. “We validated the overall removal method while we continue to refine our strat egies to increase the effi ciency of the next six cuts.” But environmental groups in the area have said they remain concerned about the possible impact the removal process may have on the environment given some of the debris and oil that washed up on the shore during the cutting and lifting process. The Golden Ray, a car carrier with more than 4,000 Hyundai vehicles as cargo, had just left the Port of Brunswick when it rolled on its side in September 2019. Once all crew members had been rescued, salvage teams began preparing the ship for removal, removing oil from the tanks, establishing a barrier to protect the envi ronment and making plans to cut the ship into eight sections. But the removal was recently delayed due to the pandemic and the onset of hurricane season. Once cutting was underway, the process stalled again when the cutting chain broke. The challenges provided work ers with an opportunity to refine their plans, said Petty Officer Michael Himes, spokesman for St. Simons Sound Incident Response. Workers discovered the steel of the ship, just a few years old, was much stron ger than anticipated, he said. So they replaced some of the cutting chain links with higher grades of steel. They had also planned on 24 hours of continuous cutting to avoid any structural issues with the ship, but they real ized the strength of the ship would allow them to pause and resume cutting without significant problems. “Each section, each cut, each lift is an operation in and of itself,” Himes said. “They will not be doing the same thing over and over again.” The next section set for removal is the ship’s stern, the rear section, in order to reduce the possibility of tidal changes in the sound that could shift the stability of the vessel, Himes said. a Apartments FOR RENT RPC Partners 2 Bedrin. Apartments Gainesville, Oakwood & Flowery Branch $ 300 Move in Special Plus Deposit 770-654-2807 NOW HIRING Off-Road Truck Drivers, Scraper Operators, and CDL Drivers/Heavy Equipment Operator Competitive pay, Great Benefits (401 k, Health Ins., Vacation) Apply in Person 1364 Candler Rd. 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