Golden Ray capsizing (2019)
A car carrier that capsized leaving a Georgia port in 2019 because of a stability miscalculation, whose wreck removal took nearly a year.
A roll-on roll-off car carrier has a tall hull and open decks, which makes it sensitive to the slightest error in weight distribution and ballast. The Golden Ray capsized in a turn, minutes after leaving its berth, because its center of gravity was higher than the crew had calculated. The US inquiry found an error in the ballast data entered, which left the ship without the required stability. The wreck, lying in a busy channel near a protected area, could not be refloated and was cut up in place. For insurance, the case shows that the heaviest item in a marine loss is no longer always the ship or the cargo but wreck removal, ordered by the authorities and paid by the protection and indemnity club.
On September 8, 2019, the Golden Ray capsized in St. Simons Sound, Georgia, with 4,161 vehicles on board; the wreck was cut into eight sections between November 2020 and October 2021, and the National Transportation Safety Board published its findings in September 2021.
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