Authorities have suspended work on the Hyundai Glovis car carrier wreck off the US city of Brunswick following a flare-up of Covid-19 at the salvage site.
The 7,700-ceu Golden Ray (built 2017) capsized on 8 September 2019 after a fire erupted in the ship's cargo hold, which contained about 4,000 cars.
"The cutting and lifting operations have been placed on a temporary pause through September until our anticipated recommencement in the beginning of October," Tom Wiker, vice president of operations for Gallagher Marine Services, said on Friday during a press conference with state and federal officials.
"As far as the impact of Covid-19 would be, we've had 10 responders test positive and more than 50 responders who had been quarantined due to contact tracing.
"Of these 10, several were critical to the project, including a salvage master and specialised crane operator."
Hurricane season on its way
The operation was also halted to prevent any weather disruptions from the oncoming hurricane season, Wiker said.
"These common weather events, including lightening and thunderstorms, high wind and squalls, have resulted in 73 work stoppages equating to nearly 220 lost hours," he said.
He said the vessel is still structurally stable and is not expected to disrupt vessel traffic during the pause in operations. A safety barrier will stay in place around the ship, he added.
"Our responders will continue to maintain the environmental protection barrier and survey the vessel using on-site monitoring systems on a 24-hour basis," he said.
Several Covid-19 measures have been implemented at the site, including daily health checks, social distancing, wearing face masks and teleworking when possible, US Coast Guard commander Efren Lopez said.
"We do have self-quarantine of all incoming members for approximately 14 days, and we're continually disinfecting our facilities and work platforms," he said.
He added that the cutting and lifting of the vessel from the site should take eight weeks once the salvage is resumed in October.
John Maddox, an environmental specialist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, said all other aspects of the salvage operation, such as safety protocols and environmental monitoring, will continue throughout the two-month hiatus.
"These are indeed unprecedented times," Maddox said. "The scale and complexity of this project would be challenging even under ideal conditions.
"This was not an easy decision to make, but the threat of heavy weather during wreck removal and impact to the schedule caused by Covid-19 clearly made this the right thing to do."
