Dismantling of shipwreck sections at Bay Street site set to go

Jul. 27—Things are about to get busy at 615 Bay St. in Brunswick.

The enormous steel slab of shipwreck that now commands the skyline thereabouts from its perch beside the East River is coming down. And it is but one of the four remaining sections of the shipwrecked Golden Ray that are scheduled to be dismantled at the site.

The large open field between Bay Street and the East River is situated across the street from neighborhoods in Brunswick's south end.

Work is expected to begin in earnest there this week.

Tractor-trailers will become a familiar sight, departing the Bay Street facility with shipping containers filled with junked cars from the shipwreck's cargo holds, said U.S. Coast Guardsman Michael Himes, spokesman for Unified Command.

The towering heavy lift crane Pacific Shore, the tip of which can reach to more than 300 feet from its berth along the riverfront, also will be busy. When dismantling starts, the massive crane will load smaller pieces of the shipwreck sections onto a barge for transport, he said.

"They can expect to see some trucks carrying cars out," Himes said. "They can expect to see large chunks (of the shipwreck sections) getting cut and then transferred to a barge. It is all going to be happening there along the water."

No night work is expected at the site, Himes said. He said the work should not be any louder than "a cutting torch could be."

Modern American Recycling Services (MARS) is in charge of the site, Himes said. It is basically a temporary extension of the company's large-scale marine recycling facility in Gibson, La., on the Gulf Coast.

Section 3 of the shipwreck is moored to the river there atop a dry dock barge, secured on its side and climbing to more than 130 feet. A cutting chain powered by the VB 10,000 crane vessel separated Section 3 from what remains of the shipwreck on July 1. The 73-foot-long, 3,640-metric-ton section was hauled to the East River site aboard a dry dock barge on July 4.

Eventually, the section will be cut up into smaller pieces, each piece weighing between 200 and 500 tons, Himes said. Split the difference, and that means the 3,640-metric-ton Section 3 will be cut up into about a dozen pieces.

An army of experts wielding cutting torches will do most of the work, Himes said.

The smaller pieces will then be loaded aboard a barge for shipping to MARS's Louisiana headquarters, Himes said.

"They'll use that crane with a crew of technicians," Himes said. "They will cut the sections into chunks of 200 to 500 metric tons and move those sections onto a container barge."

Before the cutting starts, however, all vehicles inside the shipwreck sections will be removed, he said. The smaller Fuchs crane will be used to pluck out vehicles.

Vehicles that are removed will be sealed inside shipping containers, Himes said. The shipping containers will be placed on tractor-trailers beds and transported to a local facility that is licensed to recycle and crush automobiles, Himes said.

The 656-foot-long Golden Ray held a cargo of 4,200 vehicles when it capsized between Jekyll and St. Simons islands while heading out to sea from the Port of Brunswick on Sept. 8, 2019. Each vehicle contained several gallons of gas and all other necessary automotive fluids.

Once the vehicles have been removed from a section, decontamination will begin, Himes said. Crews will flush the sections with saltwater from the river, with all used water and collected fuels funneling into a container for disposal in accordance with state environmental protection standards, Himes said.

The cutting process that follows will be the most time-consuming stage of the section dismantling process, Himes said.

He said it is not certain how long the Bay Street staging area will be in operation.

MARS officials have established a plan to handle fires should they occur at the site, Himes said. With fuel and other flammable materials flushed before cutting of the sections commences, fires are not anticipated, he said.

"Our goal is to be self contained in our fire suppression abilities," Himes said.

Section 3's removal leaves about 227 feet of the shipwreck remaining half submerged in the St. Simons Sound. Cutting began Thursday to remove Section 6 from the west end of the half-submerged shipwreck. It is the second-to-last cut into the shipwreck and one of the three sections still in the sound.

The three sections are slated to join Section 3 at the 615 Bay St. site, where dry dock barges await to accommodate each for dismantling.

"There will be quite a number of personnel there," Himes said. "It's a methodical process."

Five sections have been separated from the shipwreck and removed since cutting began in November.