Overturned Car Carrier

[shemandr]

I was helping move a boat down the coast last week and we ran across this in Brunswick Inlet: Evidently the ships crew filled the wrong ballast tank and the ship just rolled over. About 1,600 BMW's went for a swim. Now they are cutting the ship (And cars) in 8 sections to remove it. Coast Guard on the scene. Word was they are cutting thru the metal "With a chain." I don't understand how that is done. Sorry, Sun was on the wrong side for the pic. The other side closed.

 

[dlochner]

And just last week the broke the chain.

Basically it works like those pocket camp saws. The chain is abrasive and the crane over the boat pulls the chain back and forth slicing the vessel in to sections. The sections are picked up and placed on barges.

GCaptain.com has many articles about the salvage. Here's one.

Golden Ray Wreck Removal Hits Hiccup Cutting Section Seven

Crews working to cut up and remove the Golden Ray wreck from Georgia’s St. Simons Sound will shift their focus to another section after a chain failure while cutting the...

gcaptain.com

 

[Michael Davis]

Human Error! Obviously we can’t be trusted with anything.

 

[shemandr]

@dlochner, Thanks for the explanation. I was imagining a chain surrounding the hull and cutting in one direction. Sawing makes more sense. But at some point the chain has to be in the mud. Maybe that's OK. Word on the dock was that they were "In the engine room" and progress had slowed considerable.
St. Simon Island has a nice marina but like all of the marina's we visited we could not buy water by the case. I don't get it. All the dock stores look at you like a deer in the headlights when you ask to buy a case of water. I were that kid, I'd be selling cases of water if I had to go to Sam's Club myself.

 

[dlochner]

Word on the dock was that they were "In the engine room" and progress had slowed considerable.

I saw that in one article. The engine blocks were probably tougher than they expected. They are big blocks of steel.

 

[shemandr]

It's all a huge undertaking. I wonder about the "Who ya gonna call" thing. Weeks Marine is a player. I think I saw their equipment building the wind mills off the South coast of Block Island. That derrick or crane or whatever you call it is enormous. I guess it was built off site and barged to the site. It's feet may be on barges - I couldn't tell. But they have to move it for each section. The engineering involved is incredible. And it's got to be expensive.

 

[brazenarticle]

Here is an account from one of the hearings -
https://thebrunswicknews.com/news/l...cle_9ff34c20-d9fc-59a8-a176-5430d963f2c0.html
The pilot was credited for running the ship toward a sand bar, had it sunk in the channel the port would have been closed for a long, long time....

 

[jmce1587]

I’ve been following the cleanup/dismantling on you tube. This guy (Minorcan Mullet) does daily reports from the job site, albeit from his boat and a drone. The VB10000 has been used in the gulf to remove abandoned oil/gas platforms. Interesting piece of equipment and engineering feat.

 

[Mr. Dave]

Was a load of Hyundais, not BMWs

 

[shemandr]

Was a load of Hyundais, not BMWs

Only Hyundais? Well then, so what!
Only kidding. I was only reporting what I was told. The cars were built in SC and supposedly shipped out of Brunswick.
So the the VB10000 is an existing structure which has done other salvages? It's a hugh structure which we could see miles before any official markers.

 

[WayneH]

Versabar - Engineering Solutions - VB 10,000

www.vbar.com

4 dynamic positioning thrusters so no anchors required. It can only lift 7500 tons. wimp.

 

[garymalmgren]

That is how the Soviet submarine KURSK was salvaged
The bow was sawn off underwater.

 

[JRacer]

Well, when we provisioned for the trip from Bruswick to BVi, we literally bought out the local liquor store of Miller Light. Barely had enough to finish the trip. 9 days at sea is a long time!

 

[Joe]

Every day one of those car carrier ships leaves San Diego harbor from Natl. City... See them all the time in San Pedro also... and I always marvel how totally un seaworthy they appear to be. Like a shoe box.. on its edge... weird.

 

[RoyS]

Human error disasters will become more common as recreational drugs are legalized. Our country is being destroyed before our eyes.

 

[Justin_NSA]

Human Error! Obviously we can’t be trusted with anything.

Skynet was right. Machines should run the world

 

[thinwater]

Human error disasters will become more common as recreational drugs are legalized. Our country is being destroyed before our eyes.

Interesting issue. Federal rules for truck drivers, commercial sailors, and related safety functions remain, and will likely always remain, zero tolerance. Any detectable amount. In other words, MJ is not legal for a truck driver, in any amount, in any state, and is not likely to be.

I think "being destroyed" is overly dramatic. I don't smoke, but I have been hit by a drunk driver, and so has my wife, so obviously we should bring back prohibition... except it didn't really work. It's not clear to me yet if these changes have any effect.

 

[Brian D]

I almost cried when I read 'BMW'. But then much to my relief it was a mistake.

 

[Phil Herring]

Can you imagine the sound of a chain ripping through a steel hull? Sounds like something worth avoiding.

 

[rbringle]

Some videos of the operations.