New $1M Legal Action Over Houston Ship Channel Collision

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Wednesday April 23, 2014

In the latest lawsuit over last month's ship collision in the Houston Ship Channel, a crew member of Kirby Inland Marine LP (Kirby)'s tugboat M/V Miss Susan says she was injured in the accident, local legal journal the Southeast Texas Record reports.

Sandrica Garrett filed suit against Kirby and Cleopatra Shipping Agency Ltd. (Cleopatra Shipping), the operator of containership M/V Summer Wind, which collided with the tugboat, claiming that both companies failed to supervise their crews.

Garret says she injured her back, shoulders, and eyes in the accident and is seeking more than $1 million in damages.

The March 22 collision resulted in about 168,000 gallons of product being spilled into the waterway.

Several suits have been filed over the accident, including one by commercial fishermen who said their businesses were hurt by the spill, another by cruise passengers whose departure date was postponed by the channel's closing, and a third by Kirby, which blamed Cleopatra Shipping, Summer Wind, and shipowner Sea Galaxy S.A. for the accident.