The cruise company giant, Carnival, is suing the Alabama shipyard that took in the Triumph, a Carnival ship that lost power at sea earlier this year, according to the Press-Register, a Mobile, Alabama, newspaper.
Carnival Cruise Lines is blaming Mobile's BAE Systems shipyard and several related entities for what it says is more than $12 million worth of damage to the cruise ship that occurred during a storm that hit the area while the boat was docked at the facility.
The Triumph broke free of the moorings at the shipyard during the storm on April 3, which had accompanying winds that approached 70 miles per hour. The ship drifted down the Mobile River before it hit another vessel, where the ship sustained damage that included a 20-foot gash across the ship's stern.
Carnival says that the moorings at the shipyard are defective in its complaint, according to the Press-Register.
The suit specifically mentions Bernadette Johnson, the widow of a shipyard employee who died during the storm when he was swept into the water and drowned. Johnson sued Carnival in May.
BAE Systems took in the Carnival Triumph to repair it after the ship suffered from an engine room fire on February 10 that knocked out the vessel's main power source and left the ship floating aimlessly in the water. During that time, ship emergency back-up power system turned on, but it wasn't sufficient to provide passengers with basic services, including working toilets, elevators, air conditioning and even lighting in many areas, which remained in the dark. Passengers reported terrible conditions on board that were well documented in the media. They were stuck on the ship for several days before help arrived. It was at that point that the ship was towed into Mobile and the BAE Systems shipyard for repairs.
Carnival gave a statement to the media at the time of the storm where the company described the damage to the Triumph as "limited."
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
