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Dive brief:
- A day after the families of three dead construction workers they announced that they plan to sue the owner and manager of the freighter Dali, the Department of Justice filed a civil suit against the companiesalso during the March 26 Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore.
- Filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Maryland, the DOJ seeks to recover more than $100 million in costs incurred by the federal government in responding to the collapse, as well as a yet-to-be-determined amount in punitive damages. The lawsuit names Grace Ocean Private Limited and Synergy Marine Private Limited, the Singaporean owner and operator of the cargo ship Dali, which ran into one of the bridge’s piers.
- The DOJ claims that the defendants negligently reduced costs, which jeopardized the safe operation of the vessel.
Diving knowledge:
Dozens of federal, state and local agencies responded to the collision and its cleanup, which affected traffic on nearby I-695 as well as marine traffic along the Fort McHenry Channel. Work to eliminate approximately 50,000 tons of steel, concrete and asphalt from the canal and outside the ship, as well as work to open temporary canals, were expensive.
The disaster will continue to plague the region for years to come.
“In all, it took months to restore the Fort McHenry Canal and reopen the harbor to normal capacity, and it will take years to build a new bridge. The Baltimore region continues to feel the adverse impacts of this entirely preventable tragedy.” , the lawsuit states.
The DOJ expects the companies to be held liable, although the owner and manager have asked the court to limit their liability to $44 million.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Chetan Patil said on a call Wednesday that the DOJ is seeking:
- About $74 for the US Army Corps of Engineers.
- Approximately $22 million for the US Coast Guard.
- Approximately $3.5 million for the Department of Labor.
- Approximately $2 million for the US Navy.
- Approximately $850,000 for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
- Approximately $800,000 for the Maritime Administration.
“These costs should be borne by the owner and operator of the vessel, not the American taxpayer,” said Benjamin Mizer, senior assistant attorney general.
The recovered funds will not be used by the state of Maryland to rebuild the bridge, Mizer said. The state should seek to recover these costs itself. Instead, any funds the state recovers would be used to pay the federal government, as President Joe Biden has promised to pay to rebuild the stretch.
The companies have denied any wrongdoing, saying the collision “was not due to any fault, negligence or lack of care”, for their part, according to a presentation intended to limit liability by Ocean Private and Synergy Marine Private.
Synergy Marine did not respond to Construction Dive’s request for comment on the lawsuit. Ocean Private has no publicly available contact information and could not be reached at the time of publication.
Negligence investigation
DOJ sources on the call Wednesday called the actions of Dalí’s owner and manager reckless, negligent and senseless, saying the collapse was entirely preventable.
The suit alleges that Dalí had a faulty transformer, subjected to the effects of strong vibrations. The source of those vibrations was not fixed, but was instead fitted with “anti-vibration braces,” the suit says. A previous boss on the ship had informed Synergy of the problem, the suit claims.
When the transformer failed, the main engine stopped and the ship experienced its first blackout. Power should have been transferred to a safety step-down transformer in time to move away from the bridge, but the automation “had been recklessly disabled,” the suit claims.
A backup generator, which should have started in 45 seconds, took more than a minute before it ignited, ending the first blackout, another sign of negligence, according to the DOJ.
A second electrical failure was caused by the use of an inadequate wash pump to power the diesel generators that created the ship’s electricity. The pumps were not designed to automatically recover from a shutdown, so the diesel engines were “starved of fuel” and the ship suffered a second shutdown.
“In many ways, the Key Bridge has come to symbolize the resilience of both the state of Maryland and our nation. … A part of our culture is gone,” said U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, Erek Barron, in the statement. “Those responsible for the Key Bridge collapse will be held accountable.”
