Inaccurate stability calculations caused the capsizing of vehicle carrier Golden Ray, resulting in US$200M worth of damage and one of the world’s longest wreck removal projects
This was the key conclusion from the US’ National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report into the maritime accident in St Simons Sound near Brunswick, Georgia.
Just 40 minutes from leaving Port of Brunswick on 8 September 2019, roro vehicle carrier Golden Ray was in trouble with a loss of stability, fire and flooding.
All 23 crew members and the pilot on board were rescued, although four engineering crew were trapped in the vessel for nearly 40 hours.
Two seafarers sustained serious injuries and 200-m Golden Ray was significantly damaged and declared a total loss estimated at US$62.5M.
Around US$142M-worth of cargo was also lost in the expensive maritime accident, including over 4,100 vehicles.
Millions more has since been spent removing the wreck from St Simons Sound and cleaning up the marine and coastal environments from the resulting bunker oil and debris pollution.
This is still ongoing as salvors are cleaning up and then lifting the last sections on to drydock barges for transportation to recycling facilities.
NTSB discovered Golden Ray began to heel rapidly to port during a 68º turn to starboard. Despite attempts by the pilot and crew to counter the heel, the rate of turn to starboard increased, and the vessel reached a heel of 60º to port in under a minute before it grounded outside of the channel and then started to capsize.
During its accident investigation, the NTSB determined the probable cause of the Golden Ray capsize was the chief officer’s error entering ballast quantities into the stability calculation programme.
This “led to his incorrect determination of the vessel’s stability and resulted in this car carrier having an insufficient righting arm to counteract the forces developed during a turn while transiting outbound from the Port of Brunswick through St Simons Sound,” said NTSB in its report.
“Contributing to the accident was G-Marine Service Co’s (the vessel’s operator) lack of effective procedures in their safety management system for verifying stability calculations,” the safety board said.
NTSB concluded Golden Ray did not meet international stability standards at departure and possessed less stability than the chief officer calculated.
After it capsized, open watertight doors allowed the vessel to flood, which blocked the primary egress from the engineroom, where four crew were trapped. Two watertight doors had been left open for almost two hours before the accident.
No one on the bridge ensured the doors were closed before departing the port, NTSB determined.
“The circumstances of this accident show that even when transiting in protected waters, watertight integrity is critical to the safety of the vessel and its crew,” NTSB said.
“It is essential that operators ensure crew verify that all watertight doors are closed in accordance with safety management system procedures.”
As a result of its investigation, NTSB issued two safety recommendations to G-Marine Service Co.
The first was to revise its safety management system to establish procedures for verifying stability calculations and implement audit procedures to ensure their vessels meet stability requirements before leaving the port.
A second was to revise its safety management system audit process to verify crew adherence to the arrival and departure checklists regarding the closure of watertight doors.
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