JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has started releasing documents related to a dock gangway collapse in Georgia that killed seven people, including four from Jacksonville.
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On Monday, the News4JAX I-TEAM requested records from the DNR. Initially, we requested the maintenance records, the designer and builder of the gangway and the capacity for how many people were allowed on the gangway at one time.
Late Tuesday afternoon, News4JAX was sent a Dropbox link with a growing number of records being added throughout the evening and into Wednesday. DNR officials said the records will continue to be added in the coming weeks.
On Wednesday, News4JAX reached back out to the DNR asking specifically about the capacity of the gangway.
We were told in an email:
“The records uploaded thus far are not complete. We are diligently working to search, retrieve, and upload documents. Thus, I cannot definitively say at this point whether or not we have the records you are requesting.”
News4JAX then sought out Structural Engineer Greg Batista.
“These things are like bridges,” he said.
Batista said a lot goes into the hiring and building of any kind of structure. He said after looking at the pictures and the amount of people on the gangway when it collapsed, it is hard to say what exactly caused it.
“That thing should hold 40 people easily. 40 people is not that many people,” Batista said.
Among the many documents released is a closeout document, and Batista explained that this was the document when the work was completed.
It showed Centennial Contractor Enterprises as the contractor for the Sapelo Dock Project, and Crescent Equipment as the sub-contractor responsible for the gangways.
There are two warranties in the document, one for the Sapelo Island Dock, good for five years, and one by the Crescent Equipment Company, good for 36 months from the date of purchase.
A joint statement between Bilfinger SE and Centennial Contractors Enterprises was sent out Wednesday.
“Last Saturday, October 19, 2024, a ferry gangway collapsed on Sapelo Island, a barrier island in Georgia, USA, tragically killing seven people and critically injuring several others. Many individuals had gathered on the island for the Gullah-Geechee festival, a cultural celebration.
We are heartbroken by the tragedy and our deepest condolences are with those who lost loved ones, and our thoughts are with those who are injured.
Centennial Contractors Enterprises, Inc., a Bilfinger company, is assisting authorities in the investigation as they work to determine the cause of the incident. Centennial served as the general contractor for the dock and gangway’s construction, in partnership with local subcontractors and vendors to complete the project in November 2021.
Our team members have been on Sapelo Island to support local and state officials and the community and remain available to assist as needed."
According to DNR, Crescent Equipment Company last inspected the dock about 10 months ago.
“If this would have been a 50-year-old gangway, I would have said, ‘Man, you know what you need to really look into, you know, the records for maintenance, right?’ So, it’s highly unlikely, possible, but highly unlikely that this was a corrosion issue,” said Batista.
As of Monday, the ferry continued to run as scheduled.
DNR spoke about the weekend tragedy and operations moving forward.
“We’ve inspected it. Our construction and engineering teams, professional engineers, have taken a look at this auxiliary dock over here. It passed an inspection and that’s where we’re at right now. I think we all know that this was a tragedy and we’re still trying to recover, and our hearts are broken for the victims, for those that were injured, for the whole Sapelo community,” said Tyler Jones with DNR.