BRUNSWICK, Ga. — The decision to delay a ship salvage is being criticized.
Crews announced they will wait two months before cutting the capsized Golden Ray into eight giant pieces in St. Simons Sound.
The Unified Command team overseeing operations says positive COVID-19 cases paired with hurricane season are causing delays.
Ten months ago—the Golden Ray capsized in the middle of the night as it left the Port of Brunswick
Most crew members made it out quickly, but it took 36 hours before all of the ship’s crew were rescued.
A year will pass before the ship is cut into pieces.
Susan Inman, coastkeeper with the Altamaha Riverkeeper says she is disappointed with the decision to push the salvage operation back.
“Two months is a long time, and this ship is not made to be on its side,” Inman said. “It’s another two months that the ship will be in the water and there are so many things that could go wrong…there’s only so much the ship can take at this point."
She’s also worried about the contaminants on board the ship.
“The [4,000] cars, their contaminants and 44,000 gallons of petroleum still on the ship,” Inman said.
The Golden Ray will be cut into eight large pieces. The VB-10,000, a twin-hull heavy lift vessel currently docked in Fernandina Beach will use lengths of chains to cut the ship into pieces and lift them onto barges for transport to Louisiana for recycling.
The current pandemic paired with the anticipated hurricane season pushing the removal date back.
To date, 10 workers tested positive for COVID-19. More than 50 staff out of approximately 300 personnel have been quarantined due to contact tracing.
U.S. Coast Guard commander Efren Lopez says crews will essentially be in a bubble when cutting starts.
“All these members will be quarantined for two weeks, and taken to a housing barge, and they will remain there through the duration of the cut,” Lopez said.
Lopez says the ship would be unaffected by any hurricane.
Permits have been obtained to install moorings in the sound for some ships to stay in the water during severe weather.
The Unified Command says they have found other locations for vessels to dock in the event of severe weather.
After several delays—Inman thinks there will be more hurdles.
“It’s really disappointing," Inman said. "There was a deviation from the original salvage plan. We were told this plan we’re going with is faster and more efficient. I can’t imagine that being true, It’ll be a year before they even start cutting, so I don’t know, I’m stunned."
Inman adds she wants the Unified Command to do a natural resource damage assessment.
Inman says this will determine what damages the ship’s owners may be responsible for and what the extent of the damage is to the surrounding area.