Baltimore sues owner and operator of ‘unseaworthy’ Dali ferry over bridge collapse
- NEWSROOM
- April 24, 2024 10:22 am
Baltimore is suing the operators of the container ship that crashed into and destroyed one of the US city’s main bridges last month, killing six people.
The city says the Dali was “clearly inappropriate” and accuses its owners and manager of negligence.
The Singapore-based owner and operator of the ship have already asked a court to limit their liability.
The region has been hit hard by the closure of its busiest port to sea transit after its passage collapsed on March 26, according to the BBC . “None of this should have happened ,” attorneys representing the mayor and Baltimore City Council argued in a federal lawsuit.
The city is asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland for a jury trial to hold the defendants fully responsible.
Naming the Dali’s owning company, Grace Ocean Private Limited, and managing company Synergy Marine Private Limited, the suit alleges that the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge was a direct result of their “gross negligence and recklessness and as a result of the vessel’s blundering “.
On April 1, Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine filed a petition in the same Maryland federal court seeking to have its liability for the incident covered.
Citing pre-Civil War maritime law, the pair of companies estimated their liability for the ship and the value of the cargo at $43.6 million.
Baltimore City’s motion disputes that figure, calling it “significantly less than the amount to be claimed for losses and damages arising out of the Dali’s collision with the Key Bridge.”
The route taken by the freighter — which was leaving Baltimore Harbor under the Key Bridge — “is not unknown to large cargo ships,” city officials wrote.
They said the ship was “experiencing an intermittent power supply”, which was either not investigated or rectified.
“The Dali left port anyway, despite its clearly unseaworthy condition ,” the lawsuit said.
The filing also states that the Dali was manned by “an incompetent crew who were careless in their duties” and “lacked proper training.”
On Friday, port officials opened a third temporary channel for ships to enter and exit, but those channels can only maintain 15 percent of the commercial activity that existed before the collapse.
A fourth channel, which will allow most traffic to return to the port, is expected to open by the end of the month.
Newsessentials Blog 
Posted on April 25, 2024
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