An oil leak from the wreck of a car carrier outside the US port of Brunswick, which polluted wildlife and the local shoreline, has been plugged.
The leak and pollution was discovered on 31 July and is the latest setback for the long-running salvage and wreck removal programme for the 7,700-ceu Golden Ray (built 2017).
It is now approaching two years since the vessel grounded in September 2019.
The wreck removal bill is already running at more than $600m and is the second costliest such operation in the history of shipping.
It has only been surpassed, in terms of expense, by the removal of the 114,000-gt cruiseship Costa Concordia (built 2006) from the Italian island of Giglio in 2012.
The cost of the Golden Ray wreck removal is largely being shared among protection and indemnity insurers through the International Group of P&I Clubs pooled claims system.
News publication Insurance Insider has reported that the International Group has increased its loss estimate for the claim to a whopping $842.3m after the recent setbacks. The majority of the claim will fall on the International Group's reinsurers.
The wreck removal, which was contracted to US firm T&T Salvage, began in January 2020 and has been hampered by Covid-19 infection outbreaks, fires, the breakdown of the cutting chain and now by the pollution incident.
Source of the leak
St Simons Sound Incident Response, the casualty response command centre that is monitoring the wreck removal, said a venting pipe that was in section six of the vessel was identified as the source of the leak.
The pipe has now been capped as the section was lifted in the process of removal.
“Since securing the vent, pollution observers report minimal amounts of oil around the section,” the response unit said.
Around 80 people were deployed in pollution clean-up operation in polluted areas, which included Wylie Street public beach and in the marshes of the Frederica River.
Wildlife has also been affected. Twenty oiled juvenile royal terns and a laughing gull have been taken to a rehabilitation centre in South Carolina.
Oil pollution containment equipment remains in place, and 30 pollution response vessels are in attendance around the wreck.
St Simons Sound Incident Response is cautioning that there may be remaining pollution in the area.
“We encourage the public to continue to remain vigilant when fishing, swimming or accessing the beaches until removal of the wreck is completed.” said John Maddox, an official with the Environmental Protection Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
