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Salvage firm asks judge to halt rival's removal of capsized ship and its 4,200 cars

SAVANNAH, Ga. — A maritime salvage company is asking a federal judge to stop the Coast Guard and a rival firm from carrying out their plans to remove a cargo ship that overturned five months ago on the Georgia coast. The multiagency team overseeing removal of the South Korean freighter Golden Ray recently announced plans to carve the 656-foot-long ship into eight giant pieces that would be loaded onto barges using a towering crane in the waters of St. Simons Sound near tony St. Simons Island. Removal is to start soon after crews surround the wreck with a large mesh barrier to trap stray debris, expected to take about a month. The Golden Ray heeled over minutes after undocking in the Port of Brunswick on Sept. 8, 2019, and its crew of 23 was rescued. It has been shorted up with thousands of tons of rocks to prevent it from listing further, and its nearly full fuel tanks have been pumped out. A key part of the dispute involves the fate of its cargo of 4,200 cars. The salvage company Donjon-SMIT filed a complaint Thursday in U.S. District Court seeking a judge's injunction to stop any removal efforts. The company said the Coast Guard violated a 1990 federal law intended to improve oil spill responses by allowing the ship's owner to drop Donjon-SMIT as its pre-designated salvage responder. Donjon-SMIT said the ship's owner, identified in the court filing as GL NV24 Shipping Inc., had rejected its plan to remove the ship “in small sections weighing approximately 600 tons (544 metric tonnes)” so crews could systematically remove the thousands of cars still inside the ship's cargo decks. The ship is filled with new Kias and Hyundais built in Mexico, and some cars from other companies, that were bound for the Middle East. The company said the owner instead hired another firm, T&T Salvage, willing to remove the vessel in larger chunks of up to 4,100 tons (3,720 metric tonnes). The multiagency command team released some details of the plan Feb. 5, but has not said what it intends to do about the cars inside. “In short, the cars need to be safely removed to avoid environmental disaster,” Donjon-SMIT said in its legal filing. Campbell Houston, a spokesman for the multiagency command overseeing the salvage operation, had no immediate comment when reached by phone Friday. T&T Salvage did not immediately reply to an email message seeking comment.

2019 Kia Forte renderings reveal a sedan with Stinger style

Kia has revealed renderings of a redesigned, sleeker third-generation Forte compact sedan that it will display at the Detroit Auto Show next week. And with the attention the Stinger sport fastback has been receiving, it's not surprising that the Forte would take its cue off that swept-back look as well. The 2019 Forte makes a radical departure from the previous generation's former, more conventional compact-sedan look, keeping a version of Kia's tiger-nose grille, and gaining a number of design cues in the sheetmetal, lower valance and headlights that Kia calls "muscular" and "dynamic." Galleries for the Stinger and previous Forte design are below for comparison. The Stinger resemblance is extended to the interior, with has an open, horizontal look. Kia doesn't say if the car will come as a hatchback — or with this body style, a liftback, again like the Stinger. Based on the second rendering above, it would appear not. But that doesn't rule out the possibility of a liftback version. And that right there is about all we know. We'll find out more next week in Detroit at the North American International Auto Show. Kia has been on a real roll of late. The 2018 Forte and Soul, along with the Forte's cousin the Hyundai Elantra, were among the six Korean cars that dominated the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's exclusive list of 15 cars that earned the Top Safety Pick+ designation. The Forte runs neck-and-neck with the Soul as Kia's sales leader in the U.S., closing out 2017 with nearly 118,000 Fortes delivered. Kia has always gone after a younger buyer, and now it looks to be gunning for a more sophisticated buyer, too. View 11 Photos View 19 Photos Related Video:

2018 Kia Stinger GT Long-term Update | Addictive power, less addictive response, fuel economy

One of the big draws of our long-term 2018 Kia Stinger GT is its twin-turbo 3.3-liter V6. With 365 horsepower and 375 pound-feet of torque hooked up to a rear-drive-based drivetrain (rear-drive is standard), it's an exciting proposition. In real life it lives up to the promise with only a few minor caveats. First the good stuff: This engine is a real ripper. It feels much, much stronger than the numbers purport. Shove the throttle down and the Kia shoves you back and doesn't let up. Your only reprieve is at redline when it shifts, then the process starts again. This sensation is accessible anywhere in the rev band, too, a benefit of peak torque arriving at just 1,300 rpm. It's an exciting and addictive feeling, and it matches the Stinger's fierce appearance. From the driver's seat, it sounds good but not great. It produces a smooth, deep growl, but it's flat. Other V6s have more of a gargle, or a howl or a shriek that provides personality. The Stinger's V6 sounds generic in contrast. Bystanders won't even get a generic growl, though, as the car is as quiet as a Camry from the outside. On the plus side, keeping the Stinger GT quiet does help it stay peaceful on commutes and road trips, but some kind of electronically adjustable exhaust would really liven up the Stinger GT's soundtrack without sacrificing refinement. In addition to some better pipes, the Stinger GT could use better throttle response. We've become accustomed to wickedly responsive turbo cars nowadays, so it's a little surprising to hop in the Stinger GT and feel a moment's pause before the revs rise and the boost hits. The slow response works the opposite way, too, with acceleration continuing for a moment after releasing the gas pedal. Sport mode helps alleviate the lag, but it never disappears entirely. Still, you can adjust to accommodate the sluggish throttle response, but the Stinger would be an altogether more confidence-inspiring car without it. Finally, when it comes to fuel economy, the Stinger GT meets expectations. The EPA rates it for 17 mpg in the city, 25 on the highway and 20 in combined driving, and almost every entry in our fuel log fits that range. There were a couple refuels that revealed numbers as low as 15 mpg, though our Green Editor John Snyder managed to break 29 mpg on a trip.