Cars on Board

  

Photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Ryan Dickinson 

U.S. Coast Guard District 7 PADET Jacksonville

  It's been two weeks since a massive auto transport ship turned on its side off the Georgia coast.
     The ship was transporting thousands of vehicles, and some of them were Alabama made.

     The Atlanta Journal/Constitution reported on Wednesday that it may take many weeks to develop a plan to salvage the ship, hopefully in one piece:

"The cargo, a mix of old and new passenger vehicles from a range of manufacturers, also contains fluids such as gasoline, engine oil and antifreeze. The salvage team is working to address how it will handle the pollutants inside the ship..."

     Although none of the vehicles were from the Montgomery Hyundai plant, a Hyudai spokesman tells www.timlennox.com about 300 were made at the Kia plant across the state line in Georgia. 
     A spokeswoman for Mercedes USA says "a few" Mercedes vehicles were on board. That doesn't account for the vast majority of the four-thousand cars on board when the ship flipped on its side.

UPDATE: The Car&Driver website also reports Kia vehicles on board and adds this background:

"Automakers have dealt with the loss of an entire ship's worth of vehicles before. In 2006, as C/D reported, a cargo ship called the Cougar Ace capsized when it was near Alaska on a journey from Asia to North America with $103 million worth of brand-new Mazdas on board. The 23-member crew needed to be rescued, and all 4703 cars were eventually crushed.

The Golden Ray was built in 2017 and was sailing under the flag of the Marshall Islands. It has the capacity to carry 6933 vehicles and is owned by GL NV24 Shipping and operated by Hyundai Glovis..."