http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Delta_Mariner
A Murray-based company is among the contractors assisting with salvage operations for the cargo ship Delta Mariner, which struck the Eggners Ferry Bridge Thursday night causing a 300-foot section to collapse.
Mainstream Commercial Divers, Inc., of Murray, contracted over the weekend to help Foss Maritime Company, of Seattle, which owns the 8,400 ton vessel.
Company president Craig Fortenbery said a four-man dive crew and a two-man side-scan sonar crew were on site Sunday.
“We did a side-scan sonar survey, as well as an advising survey in areas of the bridge and vessel, in order to help the development of the salvage plan for the bridge, and develop the plan on how to get the bridge off of the vessel,” said Fortenbery.
Fortenbery said Mainstream still had a few people on site as of Monday afternoon.
“Now we’re utilizing one of our vessels to ferry all of the involved persons back and forth (to the ship),” he said.
Fortenbery said that Mainstream may be further involved, depending on how Foss Maritime moves forward with its salvage plan.
Foss Maritime spokesperson Suzanne Lagoni said the company submitted its salvage plan to the U. S. Coast Guard late Sunday, and is waiting on a review.
The full Foss crew of 16 will remain on board the Delta Mariner throughout the salvage operations, said Lagoni. She added that two river pilots that were on the vessel had disembarked follwing the crash.
Specially trained divers working for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet plan to be at the US 68/KY 80 Eggners Ferry Bridge early Tuesday morning to begin their underwater examination of Pier 6 and two other piers that support the remaining bridge structure, said Keith Todd, KYTC District 1 spokesman.
The divers will be looking at the base of the three bridge piers to determine if the force of the collision caused collateral damage to the bridge support structure. KYTC inspectors believe one of the piers may have moved as a result of the collision.
Todd said the dive team will not be placing a monitor on the pier at this time.
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Secretary Mike Hancock has said that evaluating the conditions of the remaining bridge structure will be key in determining strategies for creating a temporary river crossing.
The Eggners Ferry Bridge, which is located at US 68/KY 80, opened in 1932. It connects Marshall and Trigg counties at the western entrance to Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. According to the AP, the transportation cabinet said the bridge was in the process of being replaced, and preconstruction work began months ago.
The M/V Delta Mariner was recently involved in a bridge allision on the Tennessee River near Cadiz, Kentucky. There were no reports of injury or pollution. The incident is under investigation and it is premature to speculate as to the cause. It is timely, though, to generally discuss this unique vessel, which has been quietly performing its work for the past 12 years. It was built in 1999 by Halter Marine in Moss Point, Mississippi for Foss Maritime. The sole mission of the Delta Mariner is to transport rocket components from the point of manufacture at the Boeing facility in Decatur, Alabama to launch facilities at Cape Canaveral, Florida or Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The vessel is routed either through the Tennessee-Tombigbee waterway or via the Tennessee, Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers. It can carry up to three 160-foot long, 16-foot diameter Delta IV common booster cores. As their name implies, the common booster cores are attached to the Delta IV rockets to provide additional thrust for satellite launches. The Delta Mariner is specially constructed to operate on both inland rivers and the open ocean. It is 312 feet in length, has a beam of 56 feet, and has a design draft of 14 feet. It is classed with the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) and its Protection and Indemnity coverage is with the American Club. A quick review shows no previous detentions or deficiencies with the US Coast Guard. Designing the Delta Marine required special engineering and project management during construction to meet Boeing’s unique requirements for transporting the valuable and sensitive cargoes. A large door across the stern facilitates loading of the common booster cores onto this ro-ro vessel.
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