The salvage team for a car carrier capsized off Georgia is working on a strategy to remove all of the ship's fuel and oil as the first step to a complex, possibly months-long operation.
The Hyundai Glovis-owned 7,700-ceu Golden Ray (built 2017) turned on its side on 8 September while carrying about 4,000 cars in St. Simons Sound.
A "Unified Command" group of local, state and federal authorities began salvage operations for the disabled ship Tuesday after the US Coast Guard (USCG) rescued its 24 crewmembers.
The ship is currently holding 336,000 gallons of fuel and oil in its tanks, USCG Petty Officer Third Class Taylor Bacon told TradeWinds.
"The plan is to remove all of the fuel from the ship, pending an issue with the vessel's stability or environmental impacts," he said.
"There's a lot of logistics that goes into this response."
The salvage team began drilling holes in the ship's hull Wednesday to test for internal air quality before entering fuel compartments to determine how best to remove the fuel.
Ventilation equipment will be used to replace toxic fumes within the tanks with fresh air, Bacon said.
A fuel barge capable of holding 1.2 million gallons of liquid is en route to the salvage scene for lightering purposes but it has yet to be determined where the ship's fuel will be taken.
"It's up to the command to look into where they want to take the fuel," he said.
