Versabar News

The largest shipwreck removal project in American history is drawing to a close.On Monday, salvage personnel removed the final section of the overturned car carrier Golden Ray, which capsized in the St. Simons Sound near Georgia's Port of Brunswick in September 2019.The ensuing salvage project—considered to be the largest and most complex in U.S. waters—required more than 3 million collective manhours as crews cut the 656-foot ship into eight sections for lifting and barge transport to a local facility for partial dismantling.

The heavy-lift vessel VB 10,000 arrived Tuesday at the Golden Ray wreck site in Georgia's St. Simons Sound, where the specialized vessel will be used by salvage crews to cut and lift sections of the overturned car carrier. The Korean-owned Golden Ray, which capsized after leaving the Port of Brunswick in September 2019, will be dismantled in place and removed in sections. Salvors have installed 16 lifting lugs on the wreck to provide connection points for the U.S.-flagged VB 10…

A specialized heavy-lift vessel departed the Port of Fernandina, Fla. Monday en route to Georgia's St. Simons Sound, where it will be used by salvage crews to cut and lift sections of the capsized car carrier Golden Ray.The U.S. flagged VB 10,000 is expected to reach the St. Simons Sound in the early hours on Tuesday and remain on scene for a minimum of eight weeks, plus any extra time required for weather stoppages or other unforeseen circumstances, Michael Himes, public information officer for the St Simons Sound Incident Response told MarineLink.The Korean-owned Golden Ray…

T&T Salvage installed the final lifting lug on the M/V Golden Ray, a roll-on, roll-off vessel that ran aground and overturned near the Port of Brunswick in Georgia in September.The 16 lugs welded to the frame of the Korean-owned car carrier will provide connection points for the 255-foot tall Versabar VB 10,0000 twin-gantry crane catamaran to fasten to in order to secure sections of the hull as they are cut from the wreck during the Golden Ray’s removal from St. Simons Sound.Weighing over 38 tons…

Belle Chasse, La. shipyard C&C Marine and Repair said it has grown its indoor fabrication space to accommodate an expanding pipeline of newbuild and repair projects.The shipyard announced Wednesday it has acquired from Versabar, Inc. a 35,000-square-foot fabrication building complete with four 40-ton overhead gantry cranes, equipped with 10-ton auxiliary cranes. C&C Marine and Repair took possession of the building from Versabar, following the expiration of a lease back provision in the 2018 Purchase Agreement.

T&T Salvage installed the eighth lifting lug on the M/V Golden Ray, a roll-on, roll-off vessel that ran aground and overturned near the Port of Brunswick in Georgia in September.In total, 16 lugs will be installed: two on each of the eight sections of the Korean-owned car carrier, which rests on its side in St. Simons Sound.The Golden Ray will need to be dismantled in place and removed in pieces because the vessel, in its current position and condition, would not be able to support…

Belle Chasse, La. based C&C Marine and Repair said it has expanded its shipyard with the acquisition of another 1,000 linear feet of bulkhead, along with a 16,725 square foot Spooling Shop equipped with two 20 ton overhead cranes.With this latest expansion, C&C Marine and Repair now has 3,200 linear feet of continuous waterfrontage along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (Algiers Canal), and more than 470,000 square feet of area under roof. The C&C Marine and Repair facility sits on over 80 acres and includes eight large fabrication bays…

Naval architect Kyle Curtis has joined naval architecture, marine engineering and marine surveying firm The Shearer Group, Inc. (TSGI).   Prior to joining TSGI, Curtis worked for Versabar in Houston as a marine engineer and a structural engineer. He received a B.S. in Ocean Engineering from Texas A&M University where he also received the Dean’s Honor Award and participated as the Treasurer of the Ocean Engineering Society.

The Offshore Technology Conference (OTC), which takes place May 4-7 in Houston, has announced 17 technologies that will receive the Spotlight on New Technology SM Award. The 2015 awards will be presented May 4, in the NRG Center Rotunda Lobby. The Spotlight on New Technology Awards—a program for OTC exhibitors—showcase the latest and most advanced hardware and software technologies that are leading the industry into the future. In support and recognition of innovative technologies being developed by small businesses…

Feds issue Interim Guidelines for reefing old rigs at the same time that NOAA identifies myriad potentially polluting shipwrecks. Salvage opportunities abound. In late June, the U.S. Interior Department revised its interim policy for defunct, offshore oil-and-gas platforms, making it easier to turn them into artificial reefs under an initiative by the agency’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement or BSEE. Separately, and at virtually the same time, a new NOAA report that examines national oil pollution threat from shipwrecks has been presented to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Nearly two years ago, the Obama Administration tightened rules for removing “idle iron” – old oil platforms and pipelines – and on plugging unused wells in the Gulf of Mexico. That September 2010 move was part of a federal crackdown on deepwater oil and gas operations following the 2010 BP spill. Since then, heavy-lift companies have continued to rid the Gulf of unused structures and other firms have positioned themselves for that work. Under the 2010 rules, wells that hadn't been used for five years were to be abandoned or “zonally isolated” within three years after Oct. 15, 2010.

Bisso Marine Company, Inc. heavy lift crews using the 700 ton D/B Cappy Bisso and the 600 ton D/B Lili Bisso, recently loaded out five deck sections at Houma Industries in Harvey Louisiana. The largest section weighed 725 tons. Rigging for the project was provided by Versabar of Belle Chasse, La.

Bisso Marine Co. successfully launched a 350 ton Bahamian Patrol Vessel for Moss Point Marine, a division of Halter. In order to make the lift, DB Cappy Bisso had to be ballasted down to 10 ft. to clear the 44 ft. air draft under the I-10 Bridge in Moss Point, Miss. Moss Point Marine Engineered and fabricated a cradle to support the vessel for the launching. The rigging for the lift was supplied by Versabar.

Bisso Marine Co., Inc. recently lifted an 850-ton reactor vessel from the deck of Storman Asia at the Nashville Ave. Wharf in New Orleans. Originally, the off-loading plans falled for the ship's own cranes to remove the vessel, but a problem developed with the lifting gear, and the cranes were unable to provide the lift capability. Bisso's derrick barges Cappy Bisso and Lili Bisso were brought to the scene, and safely lifted the reactor vessel from the ship, and placed it on a 260 x 72 ft. barge outfitted with heavy lift dollies. Rigging for the special lift was engineered and supplied by Versabar, Inc.