Foss Maritime, the U.S. shipping company facing a lawsuit in the 2012 destruction of the Eggners Ferry Bridge in Aurora has reached a settlement agreement, according to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.
Keith Todd, public information officer for KYTC districts 1 and 2, confirmed that the company had agreed in February to pay a total of $3,375,000 to the cabinet, though no further details were released as of Tuesday afternoon.
KYTC sued Foss in 2012, on the grounds that crews for the Delta Mariner – a cargo ship operated by Foss for the United Launch Alliance – ignored warnings from the U.S. Coast Guard in regards to lights having gone out on the old Eggners Ferry Bridge. The crew on Jan. 26, 2012, navigated the ship through the wrong channel, colliding with the structure and destroying a 322-foot span of the bridge.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators determined that “the bridge team’s exclusive reliance on the contract pilot’s incorrect navigational direction as the vessel approached the bridge and their failure to use all available navigation tools to verify the safety of the vessel’s course” was the cause of the incident.
The state spent roughly $7 million erecting a replacement span until the new Eggners Ferry Bridge could be constructed. The new bridge opened to traffic April 8, 2016. The former structure was demolished the following November.