Port of Miami struggles to deal with overweight containers.

September 2007

Miss Florida of 2003, Shauna Pender, nearly got killed just two weeks after she had won the beauty competition.

She got involved in a car crash with a container truck, driving from the Port of Miami-Dade. The truck lost control and flipped over, crushing Pender’s town car, with Pender trapped inside.

According to Shauna Pender’s attorney, Bill Sullivan, the leading cause to the accident was that the truck was overloaded with boxes of Chilean avocados stacked to the roof of the container, brought into the US by Maersk.

Maersk denies responsibility. 'It was a refrigerated unit - and it was overweight. It was packed too high, which changed the center of gravity," William Sullivan says.

Shauna Pender has therefore sued the driver of the truck, the trucking company and Maersk, the container line and terminal operator. She is seeking more than $10 million in damages.

Pender has undergone lots of operations after the accident. A lack of oxygen resulted in brain damage. She still doesn't have full use of her right arm and one of her vocal chords is paralysed, which has ruined her dream of a singing career.

Maersk attorney Allan Kelly answers to the Miami Herald, that there was nothing Maersk could have done to prevent the tragic accident.

More than 40 percent overweight

However, overweight trucks has shown to be a general problem at the port. The results of random inspections have shown that more than 40 percent of all trucks inspected were overweight. In some weeks, it was more than 70 percent, according to Miami Herald.

The case is expected to be handled in court in January 2008.