The owner and operator of the M/V Dali will pay the federal government nearly $102 million to cover debris cleanup and response costs stemming from the March 26 collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland.
The payment by Singapore-based Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and Synergy Marine Private Ltd. resolves a civil claim filed in mid-September by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) to compensate federal agencies for their efforts after Dalí touch one of the bridges of the bridge. Main span of main support piers after two successive apparent power losses.
The collision collapsed six spans of the 50-year-old truss structure on the Patapsco River, blocking the deep-draft channel serving the Port of Baltimore. Six construction workers also died in the incident, which remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. A criminal investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation is also underway.
Over the next 10 weeks, a massive salvage effort removed approximately 50,000 tons from the canal, which was fully reopened on June 10.
In its filing, the federal government asserted that Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine failed to address known problems with the Dali’s mechanical and electrical systems prior to the ship’s departure from the port of Baltimore en route to Sri Lanka. As such, according to the filing, the two companies were responsible for more than $103 million in debris removal and channel reopening costs from various federal agencies under the Rivers and Harbors Act, the Pollution Act for oil and general maritime law.
According to a DOJ statement, the settlement money will go to the US Treasury and the budgets of federal agencies directly affected by the collision or involved in the response. Grace Ocean has also paid $97,294 to the Coast Guard’s National Pollution Fund Center for oil pollution abatement costs, the DOJ said.
The agreement does not apply to the projected $1.2 billion cost to rebuild the Key Bridge, a four-year project that will begin early next year by a team led by Kiewit under a phased design-build contract .
The government’s claim was part of a lawsuit filed in April by Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine that seeks to limit their liability for the incident to $43.67 million, the estimated net present value of the ship’s companies and cargo less repair and salvage costs, citing prior interpretations of the US Open Waters and Navigation Act.
With pending litigation from the state of Maryland, the city of Baltimore and others affected by the accident, “the ship owners and insurers likely quickly reached the settlement to avoid potential punitive damages alleged in the DOJ civil suit and a long and expensive fight, too,” says attorney David Suchar, president of Mason LLP’s Construction and Real Estate Litigation Group, based in Washington, DC. “This settlement is likely the first step in a series of multiple insurance payouts in response to this massive loss.”
