US sues for $100 million over Baltimore bridge collapse

A merchant ship struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in March, disrupting maritime traffic for months

The US Department of Justice has filed a federal civil claim against the Singapore-based companies whose cargo ship destroyed a bridge near Baltimore earlier this year, closing one of the largest American ports for months.

The container ship MV Dali struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge on the evening of March 26, killing six road workers and collapsing the major highway artery built in 1977.

“With this civil claim, the Justice Department is working to ensure that the costs of clearing the channel and reopening the Port of Baltimore are borne by the companies that caused the crash, not by the American taxpayer,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said on Wednesday.

The DOJ is suing Grace Ocean Private Limited and Synergy Marine Private Limited, both based in Singapore, who owned and operated the Dali. Shortly after the crash, the two companies moved to limit their liability to around $44 million. The US government seeks at least $100 million, along with punitive damages.

The US government wants to recover the costs of clearing the bridge debris, reopening the channel for shipping, and dealing with the “substantial risk of oil pollution.” Federal, state and local agencies had to remove about 50,000 tons of steel, concrete and asphalt and clear “a series of temporary channels to start relieving the bottleneck at the port and mitigate some of the economic devastation” caused by the wreck. The Fort McHenry Channel was not fully reopened until June 10.

Read more

“This was an entirely avoidable catastrophe, resulting from a series of eminently foreseeable errors made by the owner and operator of the Dali,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton.

According to the DOJ, after the Dali left the port of Baltimore, the vessel “lost power, regained power, and then lost power again” before striking the bridge. Benjamin Mizer, the principal deputy attorney-general, accused the owner and the operator of being aware that “vibration issues” could cause a power outage, but doing nothing to fix it.

“Out of negligence, mismanagement, and, at times, a desire to cut costs, they configured the ship’s electrical and mechanical systems in a way that prevented those systems from being able to quickly restore propulsion and steering after a power outage,” Mizer said.

As a result, the Dali’s propeller, rudder, anchor and bow thruster were unable to steer the ship when they needed to. 

The US claim does not address the funds needed to rebuild the bridge. Because it was built, owned, maintained and operated by Maryland, it’s up to that state to file its own claim.