Link

A Chain Just Cut Through A Capsized Cargo Ship Filled With Cars And The Process Is Fascinating (UPDATE W/VIDEO)

Back in September of 2019, a 600+ foot cargo ship called the MV Golden Ray, which was apparently loaded in an unstable fashion with over 4,000 cars, capsized in St. Simons Sound just off the port of Brunswick, Georgia. Since then, responders have been working to remove the ship in sections to send the hulk to the scrapper. November was particularly exciting, as workers used a chain to cut off the first enormous chunk of ship, revealing mangled cars within. Here’s a look at the fascinating way the team pulled this off.

The VB-10000 Lift Vessel
The main player in the complex slicing operation is called the Versabar VB-10000 lift vessel, a gigantic yellow dual-barge crane used for the first time in 2010 and developed in response to hurricanes damaging oil platforms. The company that builds the colossal contraption says capacity of the tall twin-gantries is 7,500 tons, though each of the two trusses is structurally capable of handling over 5,000 — it’s apparently the buoyancy of the barges that limits capacity to 7,500. Speaking of the two barges, each has four 1,000 horsepower thrusters to keep the vessel precisely positioned overtop of the wreckage.




See link for full story, images and video, its a long story...

Ha! The VB-10000 has been sequestered in Pensacola twice. At night, from the bay bridge, it looked like giant golden arches!

Creative solution to a huge problem. Very cool.

Damn. They scratched the paint...

That's one Helluva Chain Saw!

I read that the chain moves slow enough to gentle force the cars out of its path. The positive side effect is that it won't cut through cars and leak oil and fuel.

Yes, I know fuel and oil can otherwise leak from these cars, but it shouldn't be from the chain saw effect.

Maybe you boat guys (Balze?) can explain why they didn't try to recover the ship. Too old and not cost effective recovery?

I can only imagine the noise and sound as the chain cuts its way through the ENTIRE ship

This is how they raised the Soviet Sub the Kursk. They cut it in sections with a chain and then raised the sections. Same thing as here, just 300’ underwater.

Salvage always finds a way. Pretty awesome

quote:

Originally posted by Russ59:

Maybe you boat guys (Balze?) can explain why they didn't try to recover the ship. Too old and not cost effective recovery?

Just from what I'm seeing, it looks damn near impossible to recover it. It certainly wouldn't be economically feasible. With how shallow the water is there, it doesn't look possible to refloat the vessel even at high tide. And there really is no good way to right the vessel otherwise. Cutting her up and scrapping her seems like the only real, "cheapest" option.

Folks in coastal GA might to be monitoring the car dealers for discounted "new old stock" vehicles. "Some water exposure."

I don't see the chain part of it? I see the hoisting part and that's neet too, but do the cranes shown do the cutting part too. You can clearly see the underwater team has welded brackets.