Pair of Chevrolet Silverados Yanked From Ocean Floor After 22 Months Underwater
They sunk…Like a Rock.
A total of 81 shipping containers were accidentally dumped from the YM Efficiency vessel off the coast of Australia in June 2018 and, until recently, that's where they remained. Last week, 10 of the cargo holders were recovered from several-hundred feet below, on the ocean floor about 25 kilometers off the Newcastle shore. Among the goods in these containers was a pair of Chevy Silverado pickups, both destined for the mainland. Suffice to say, they'll soon be headed to a scrapyard after 22 months submerged in salty Pacific water.
The trucks were being imported from the United States and, had all gone as planned, they'd receive a full right-hand-drive conversion to conform to Australian roadways. At the current exchange rate, and given the hefty price of shipping, the value placed on each 2018 model Chevy was approximately $150,000 AUD, according to the Newcastle Herald. Photos from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority show that they were heavy-duty examples, though other specifics are murky—it's safe to assume that they're Duramax diesel-powered. Or at least, they were.
"Obviously having a free fall for 120-odd meters in the water and then landing on the bottom hasn't left them in the best shape," said Scott Wilson, project manager for AMSA. "All the windows were down in them as well, so they were all full of water and are just rotting."
Recovery workers are covered from head to toe in personal protective equipment, though these measures are more for their comfort than safety.
"The stench that is coming out of these containers is just horrific," Wilson said. "[The PPE] is just for the comfort of the bloke who is going in there until it gets aired out a bit."
Other recovered containers have so far been filled with tires, steel, copper, and other materials that must now be recycled. As for the trucks, it'll be a task of separating one panel from the next to place them all in the proper bins to be reclaimed.
To this point, the clean-up efforts have cost AMSA about $15 million AUD with the project anticipated to pull 62 containers from the ocean floor by the end of April. As such, the Silverados are just drops in the bucket of what's been an extremely time-consuming and labor-intensive endeavor.
If you happened to be waiting on this pair of Chevys, maybe it's time to look at other options. We hear they're offering some killer deals if you don't mind financing for the better part of a decade.
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