The Biden administration launched a court fight Wednesday against the owners and operators of the ship that caused the deadly Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore earlier this year, arguing the companies ignored problems with the MV Dali’s systems that led to the crash.
The Justice Department’s filing, in an existing federal court case in Maryland, argued that both Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and Synergy Marine PTE Ltd. cut corners with the ship — such as welding a cargo hook to a wall to tamp down on vibrations — that led to the electrical and other equipment failures in the moments before the ship hit one of the bridge supports in March.
The claim seeks more than $100 million in costs incurred by the federal government for cleanup and recovery, plus an unspecified amount of punitive damages because the companies “sent an ill-prepared crew on an abjectly unseaworthy vessel to navigate the United States’ waterways.”
