Video: Retired Ship Sunk to Form Artificial Reef

Sinking a 6,000-ton, 371-foot former cargo vessel to help create an artificial reef in the Gulf of Mexico is a herculean feat, one only accomplished with strict adherence to rigorous federal and state environmental regulations.

When the cargo ship Kraken was recently sunk 67 miles off the Galveston coast, Matrix New World Engineering helped the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department Artificial Reef Program ensure that the vessel was free of environmental hazards and safe to support coral, fish, sea turtles and other aquatic life.

“To prepare the Kraken for its new life as an artificial reef, Matrix played a vital role ensuring and verifying that cleanup contractors removed oil, fuel, damaged paint, asbestos, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other potential hazards from the vessel,” said Douglas Jackson, Senior Project Manager for Matrix.

Working under the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department’s contract with Kansas-based Terracon, Matrix provided oversight for six months’ worth of work that enabled the Kraken to meet the strict U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Best Management Practices for vessels to be reefed.

“The Kraken will become an underwater destination for divers, so Matrix also took great care to see vessel modifications would ensure diver safety,” said Jackson, explaining that contractors were tasked with removing debris, certain types of pipes and other parts that could become loose or dislodged in saltwater over time.

The Kraken’s new resting place is in close proximity to the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, a triad of coral reef systems popular with divers and fishermen located about 100 miles off the Gulf Coast.

A video of the sinking is available here.

This is the second ship-reefing project Matrix has undertaken for the Texas Parks & Wildlife since 2014, when it handled environmental oversight for a derelict 155-foot freighter, the Kinta S, scuttled off Mustang Island to become part of the Corpus Christi Nearshore Reef, said Jackson, based in Matrix’s Houston office.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department manages one of the world’s largest active artificial reef programs with nearly 70 separate underwater locations.

Artificial reefs are essential in the Gulf of Mexico where there are few natural habitats for corals, barnacles and sponges – the basis of the aquatic food chain.

“This is a great opportunity to take a ship, clean it up, have it reefed in an upright position and create a diving attraction in addition to a marine habitat,” said J. Dale Shively, director of the artificial reef project.

“To create an artificial reef, the environment needs to be stable, complex and durable. A ship is all these things,” Shively said.

Cahaba Disaster Recovery, LLC towed the Kraken from Trinidad to Brownsville, Texas in May 2016.  The firm completed clean-up, modification and sunk the ship under its contract with the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department.

Funding for the project came from donations and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill natural resource damage settlement, jointly provided by natural resource trustee agencies in Texas which include the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and Texas General Land Office.