The US Department of Justice filed a $103m civil claim yesterday against the owner and manager of the Dali containership, alleging negligence and unseaworthy conditions led to this March’s dramatic accident in Baltimore which brought port operations to a halt for months.
The damning 53-page claim filed at the US District Court for the District of Maryland against Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine details in great detail the moments leading up to the March 26 accident that saw the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse with the loss of six lives. The claim details how the vessel lost power, regained power, and then lost power again before striking the bridge.
“The owner and operator of the Dali were well aware of vibration issues on the vessel that could cause a power outage. But instead of taking necessary precautions, they did the opposite,” said principal deputy associate attorney general Benjamin Mizer. “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. As a result, when the Dali lost power, a cascading set of failures led to disaster.”
Rather than address the underlying vibration problem, or even replace a cracked component, the defendants have been accused of welding over cracks and carrying on with business as usual.
The claim also details how the Dali had a vibration-dampening rod wedged between the number 1 step-down transformer and a steel beam in the transformer room (pictured).
“It was jury-rigged, in the literal sense, from spare cargo equipment and painted white on one end,” the claim maintains.
The lawsuit asserts that none of the four means that should have been available to help steer the Dali — the propeller, rudder, anchor, or bow thruster — worked when they were needed to avert or even mitigate this disaster.
“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, head of the Justice Department’s civil division. “The suit seeks to recover the costs incurred by the United States in responding to this disaster, which include removing the bridge parts from the channel and those parts that were entangled with the vessel, as well as abating the substantial risk of oil pollution.”
The Justice Department’s claim also seeks punitive damages to deter the owner and operator of the Dali and others.
During a press call announcing the Justice Department’s actions, acting deputy assistant attorney general Chetan Patil of the civil division explained, “This accident happened because of the careless and grossly negligent decisions made by Grace Ocean and Synergy, who recklessly chose to send an unseaworthy vessel to navigate a critical waterway and ignored the risks to American lives and the nation’s infrastructure.”
In a statement, Darrell Wilson, a spokesperson for Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine, said that Wednesday’s filing “was anticipated” but that the “owner and manager will have no further comment on the merits of any claim at this time.”
“We do look forward to our day in court to set the record straight,” Wilson said.
The department’s claim is part of a legal action the owner and operator of the Dali initiated shortly after the tragedy, in which they seek exoneration or limitation of their liability to approximately $44m.
The claim on behalf of the US does not include any damages for the reconstruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. The State of Maryland built, owned, maintained, and operated the bridge, and attorneys on the state’s behalf may file their own claim for those damages.
Legal cases surrounding this year’s most high-profile shipping accident are expected to run for many years costing hundreds of millions of dollars.
Lawyers for three of the families who lost loved ones when Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed six months ago are also suing the owners of the Dali containership for personal injuries, adding to a slew of lawsuits surrounding the vessel which is scheduled to leave American shores this week and make for China where extensive repairs will get underway.