In Feb 19 the GOLDEN RAY docked at Pier 80 and loaded its precious Tesla cargo and departed for China.
This was a comparatively new ship entering service in 2017, benefitting from a modern bridge and all the advantages that modern computer technology can bring. Although like many other pure vehicle carriers she was 200 metres long she was a bit wider at just over 35 metres. That extra width allowed her to carry up to 7700 cars. She left Pier 80 on 13 Feb 19 and arrived safely in Shanghai on 1 Mar 19.
On 8 Sep 19 the GOLDEN RAY was leaving Brunswick, Georgia en route to Baltimore. She had onboard about 4500 Kia and Hyundai cars and as she entered the Atlantic she started to list. In an action reminscent of the HOEGH OSAKA incident in the Solent in Jan 2015, the local pilot immediately steered the vessel towards shallow water to prevent a total capsize. 23 crew members were rescued unharmed although for 3 of them trapped in the engine room with an uncontrolled fire it was a close run thing. The HOEGH OSAKA was refloated by the salvage company, subsequently repaired and quickly returned to service. That's not the case with the GOLDEN RAY - it's still at the mouth of the river, lying on it's side. It is being totally dismantled in situ.
The US NTSB has yet to report on the GOLDEN RAY accident but the UK Maritime Accident Investigation Branch has issued its
report on the HOEGH OSAKA incident which is an interesting read.
Vehicle carriers do not have a good safety record. The accidents and incidents can be largely grouped into 2 different cause groups - Fire and Instability.
Let’s look at fires first of all. 5 major fires since January 2019 that I am aware of:
January 2019 SINCERITY ACE caught fire whilst crossing the Pacific with 3500 Nissans on board. 5 Crewman died
March 2019 GRANDE AMERICA caught fire and sank in the Bay of Biscay
May 2019 GRANDE EUROPA caught fire whilst off the Spanish coast in the Mediterranean. It had no less than 2 separate fires in brand new vehicles within the space of 4 hours.
June 2019 DIAMOND HIGHWAY was abandoned in the South China Sea because of a fire onboard.
June 2020 HOEGH XIAMEN caught fire whilst loading at Jacksonville Florida. Despite the fire service being on scene very quickly and using drones with IR cameras to detect hot spots, the ship continued to burn for days and was a total loss. This fire was very concerning since if a fire cannot be extinguished when alongside with the benefit of a fully equipped fire service using fire boats and all the latest technology, what chance would it have at sea?
The causation of most of these fires is put down to car batteries, that’s normal ICE 12V car batteries on brand new cars. No, I don’t suppose you read about these horrific incidents in the Daily Mail since they didn’t involve a Tesla.
The other major issue with these ships is their stability or rather potential instability. Generally there are 2 reasons for stability issues the first of which is water ingress and the second is failing to ballast or trim the vessel properly. Ocasionally the latter leads to the former.
Typing the following incidents into a search engine will produce an eye-opening read.
Dec 02 TRICOLOR Enroute from Zeebrugge to Southampton sank following collision. Notoriously hit twice more by 2 different vessels.
Jul 06 COUGAR ACE Developed a severe list
Dec 12 BALTIC ACE 11 died following a collision
Jan 15 HOEGH OSAKA Developed a severe lis
Jan 16 MODERN EXPRESS Severe list
Sep 19 GOLDEN RAY Capsized
The American NTSB report on the GOLDEN RAY is yet to be published, however there were some US Coastguard
hearings in September from which you can get a very good idea of what went on.
