BRUNSWICK, Ga. – After nearly two years of legal battles, a federal lawsuit against the Golden Ray cargo ship’s owner and the salvage company was dismissed Tuesday after reaching a settlement with fishers, crabbers and other seafaring businesses.
The Korean car carrier capsized onto its side on Sept. 9, 2019, shortly after departing the Port of Brunswick. It was carrying nearly 4,200 cars and over 300,000 gallons of fuel.
That fuel, along with an unknown amount of oil, leaked into the St. Simons Sound.
All crew members were rescued safely, but salvage experts deemed the ship itself, measuring 656-feet-long, was a complete loss.
The salvage process was extensive, with one with crews using a massive rig to cut the ship into pieces to remove it.
Clean-up took more than two years, and several fires broke out during it.
Nearly a year after the final piece of the ship was hauled away, nearby fishermen and charter captains filed a federal lawsuit.
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That lawsuit claimed the environmental damage caused by the capsizing and the salvage cost them much of their livelihood. It named the owners of the Golden Ray, the company that chartered it, its staffer, and the group that acted as the ship’s agent in the Port of Brunswick.
The suit argued oil and other pollutants degraded water quality in violation of the Clean Water Act.
It also claimed chemicals from the ship leached into the sound’s seabed.
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The exact terms of the agreement have not been released, and the attorney representing the fisherman said they could not comment because of a confidential clause.