City of Baltimore accuses Dali owners of negligence in Key Bridge collapse

BALTIMORE — The owners of the Dali were negligent in sailing an unseaworthy ship out of the Port of Baltimore and should be held fully liable for the Key Bridge collapse that killed six people, the city said Monday in a court filing.

“None of this should have happened,” a claim filed by the mayor and City Council in Baltimore’s U.S. District Court said. “Even before leaving port, alarms showing an inconsistent power supply on the Dali had sounded. The Dali left port anyway, despite its clearly unseaworthy condition.”

In a claim seeking damages, the city responded to the Dali owners’ request before a federal judge to clear them from liability or limit damages to the value of the ship plus the revenue it stood to make from its cargo.

Grace Ocean Private Ltd., the owner, and Synergy Marine Pte Ltd., which manages the 984-foot cargo ship, both based in Singapore, filed a claim April 1, which estimated the damaged ship’s value and expected revenue at $43.7 million.

Cargo ships have made thousands of trips each year for more than four decades under the Francis Scott Key Bridge without incident, and no conditions on March 26 should have changed that, the city’s filing says.

By failing to investigate or fix an inconsistent power supply that set off alarms in refrigerated containers hours before the ship departed, the owners were “grossly and potentially criminally negligent,” the claim says. “In no way should their liability be limited.”

Darrell Wilson, a spokesperson for the ship’s owners, declined Monday to respond to the city’s allegations.

“Just out of respect for the legal process, it would be inappropriate to comment,” Wilson said.

The city is also blaming the Dali’s crew, accusing the company of manning the ship with “an incompetent crew that was inattentive to its duties,” “failed to comply with local navigation customs” and “improperly navigated the Vessel.”

The Dali, which weighed more than 112,000 tons loaded with containers, was leaving the port March 26 for a monthslong voyage to Sri Lanka when it experienced a reported power outage near the bridge and smashed into a supporting pier. The bridge fell into the Patapsco River in minutes, sending a crew of workers who were repairing potholes on Interstate 695 into the water. Authorities have recovered four bodies and are searching for bodies of two more men who are missing and presumed dead.

In its claim, the city said the Dali departed and headed toward the Chesapeake Bay facing no high winds or visual obstructions. It was among ocean carriers that pass under the bridge each year to pay around 1,800 calls to what had been one of the nation’s busiest ports.

“The impact of this disaster will be felt for years, and indeed, for the rest of the lives of the families of the people killed as a result of Petitioners’ conduct,” the city said in its filing.

The port, which generated more than $70 billion in economic value last year, had been “an economic engine in a region that has been subject to more than its share of hardship,” the claim said.

The city is seeking a jury trial and argues it is owed damages such as the cost of replacing the bridge, costs linked to the interruption of transportation through the city, costs of increased spending on police, fire and other public employees’ overtime and the loss of taxes and fees on disrupted port businesses.

The price tag to rebuild the nearly 50-year-old steel arch bridge alone could run high into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Liability limitation petitions such as that filed by Dali owners are routinely filed by vessel owners that do business in the U.S. when faced with catastrophes that cause death, injuries and damage. The Limitation of Liability Act — similar to international convention — was passed in 1851 to protect the nascent U.S. shipping industry from claims for incidents out of owners’ control, such as piracy or storms. The law allows vessel owners to limit liability to the value of the ship and its freight bill if courts determine they’re not at fault.

In today’s market, experts said, the law prevents high-damage payouts from crushing maritime companies and in turn crippling the nation’s ability to maintain a commercial fleet.

But only 32% of petitions succeed in limiting a ship owner’s liability, according to research completed several years ago by Elena Mihos, a master’s student at Tulane University Law School, supervised by Martin Davies, director of Tulane Maritime Law Center.

In its filings Monday, the city argues that the ship owners cannot limit liability because “the Dali was operated in a willful, wanton, and reckless manner.”

U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar had said anyone with a claim against the Dali owners must file it at the federal courthouse in Baltimore by Sept. 24.

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