Commerical fishing interest file suit against Golden Ray owner, salvager
Sep. 8—A group of commercial fishermen filed a lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Brunswick against the owner of the car carrier Golden Ray and the company that salvaged the shipwreck, the action coming a day before the three-year anniversary of the 656-foot vessel's capsizing in the St. Simons Sound.
The Golden Ray overturned in the predawn hours of Sept. 8, 2019, while heading out to sea with a cargo of 4,161 vehicles and an estimated 380,000 gallons of fuel in its tanks. Thousands of gallons of fuel leaked from the shipwreck's tanks in the weeks afterward. Numerous oil spills and a massive fire occurred during the subsequent salvage of the shipwreck by T&T Salvage, which employed a 255-foot-tall, twin-hulled crane vessel to cut the Golden Ray into eight gargantuan sections for removal from the sound. Hired in early 2020 by the ship's owners, Hyundai Glovis, T&T Salvage commenced the operation in early November of 2020 and removed the last section of the shipwreck in late October 2021.
Attorneys filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Brunswick on behalf of several dozen shrimpers, charter boat fishing guides and crabbers, claiming "willful misconduct, malice, fraud" and negligence on behalf of the those named has caused environmental damage to the sound.
In addition to T&T Salvage and Hyundai Glovis, the lawsuit names GL NV24 Shipping Inc., G-Marine Services and Norton Lilly International.
This is a developing story.
