By Campbell Robertson and Peter Eavis
This week, the U.S. Justice Department initiated a legal claim against the owner and operator of the container ship responsible for the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in March, resulting in the death of six workers and halting operations at the Port of Baltimore for several weeks.
The lawsuit claims that the actions taken by the companies prior to the incident were “outrageous, grossly negligent, willful, wanton, and reckless.”
The federal government is pursuing over $100 million in damages to account for the extensive emergency response to the incident and federal support for port workers affected by the shutdown.
“The financial burden for these costs must fall on the shipowner and operator, not on the American taxpayer,” stated Benjamin Mizer, a senior official in the department responsible for the civil division among others. He further noted that punitive damages would also be sought “to prevent such behavior from recurring in the future.”
The filing made on Wednesday did not specify the amount being sought for punitive damages.
The Justice Department’s filing in a federal court in Maryland provides a comprehensive account of the ship’s brief but disastrous trip that night, detailing a series of onboard failures and numerous instances where the tragedy could have been averted.
Due to inadequate maintenance or “jury-rigged” repairs to significant issues on the vessel, known as the Dali, “none of the four mechanisms available to manage the Dali — her propeller, rudder, anchor, or bow thruster — functioned when needed to prevent or even lessen the impact of this disaster,” the lawsuit claims.
The Dali is registered in Singapore, owned by Grace Ocean Ltd. and operated by Synergy Marine Group, both located in Singapore.
The companies, referred to as petitioners in the legal documents, argued that their liability for the incident should be limited to no more than $44 million. The case falls under a federal statute that permits shipowners to limit their liability for an accident if they can prove they were unaware of any defects prior to the incident. However, the Justice Department asserts that the owner and operator were aware that the Dali was unfit to sail.
“This accident occurred due to the negligent and careless decisions made by Grace Ocean and Synergy, which irresponsibly opted to send an unseaworthy vessel through a critical waterway, disregarding the risks to American lives and the country’s infrastructure,” said Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Chetan Patil during a call with reporters on Wednesday.
Darrell Wilson, a spokesperson for Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine, indicated on Wednesday via email that the government’s action was expected, particularly with the Sept. 24 deadline for claims approaching.
“The owner and manager have no further comments on the specifics of any claims at this stage, but we are eager to present our case in court to clarify the facts,” he added.
Justice Department officials stated they were unable to discuss the status of a separate federal criminal probe into the incident.
The Dali, comparable in height to the Eiffel Tower, experienced a loss of power and collided with the Key Bridge on March 26, leading to the bridge’s collapse and the deaths of six workers who were performing pavement repairs.
On Tuesday, the families of three of the deceased workers announced their plans to sue the owner of the Dali.
The ship became entangled in the twisted wreckage as the bridge fell into the Patapsco River, obstructing access to the Port of Baltimore, one of the busiest ports on the East Coast. A massive cleanup operation commenced, involving numerous barges, tugboats, excavators, floating cranes, and even explosives. Approximately 50,000 tons of debris needed to be removed from the waterway.
Temporary shipping channels were reopened for some vessels shortly thereafter, and by May, once sufficient wreckage had been cleared, the Dali was freed and made the 2.5-mile journey back upriver to the terminal it had departed two months earlier. The severely damaged vessel was subsequently taken to a shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia, for repairs.
The main shipping route, the 700-foot-wide Fort McHenry Federal Channel, was not fully cleared until June, and the reconstruction of the bridge is expected to take significantly longer. State officials have estimated that it will take four years to rebuild the Key Bridge, with costs potentially reaching up to $1.9 billion.
A Justice Department official stated Wednesday that Maryland intends to recover the costs incurred for rebuilding the bridge through legal actions.
In its court documents, the Justice Department aimed to provide the most comprehensive official account to date regarding the reasons behind the Dali’s loss of control. This narrative expands upon a preliminary report issued in May by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The initial significant malfunction was attributed to a power loss in the ship’s steering and propulsion systems, which occurred when circuit breakers in an electrical transformer tripped. The lawsuit argues that the breakers opened due to “excessive vibration” leading to “a loss of electrical continuity through control circuits.”
The suit indicates that engineers and prior crew members had alerted the ship’s operator to issues caused by heavy and persistent vibrations, which had loosened onboard cargo and damaged equipment in the engine room. Such vibrations are acknowledged as “a well-known cause of transformer and electrical failures.”
Rather than addressing the source of these vibrations, the suit claims that the ship’s owner and operator installed “anti-vibration braces” on the transformer, one of which had cracked multiple times. In an attempt to mitigate the vibration, a metal cargo hook was jammed between the transformer and a steel beam.
“The evidence indicates that excessive vibration had been a longstanding issue on the ship, which Grace Ocean and Synergy attempted to remedy with inadequate temporary fixes that did not meet proper standards,” Patil stated.
The suit also claims that other critical failures occurred.
A second transformer failed to activate immediately, as both the initial transformer and the second were set for manual rather than automatic activation, which the suit deemed an “inexplicable malfunction.”
After power was reinstated on the vessel, the pilot instructed the crew to navigate between the Key Bridge’s support pillars. However, the Dali experienced a second power loss, according to the government, due to the use of an incorrect pump for supplying fuel to its generators.
Two minutes prior to the collision, the pilot ordered the release of one of the ship’s anchors, but this anchor “was not prepared for immediate emergency release, as required by law, so nothing occurred.” Moments later, the vessel struck the bridge.
Richard Burke, a professor emeritus of naval architecture and marine engineering at the State University of New York Maritime College, remarked that the government’s account appeared credible, describing the explanation of the transformers and pump failures as “pretty damning.”
