The owner and manager of the massive container ship that brought down the Francis Scott Key Bridge last month should be held fully liable for the deadly collapse, according to court papers filed Monday on behalf of the Baltimore mayor and city council became.
The two companies submitted a petition Shortly after the March 26 collapse, they asked a court to limit their liability under a provision of an 1851 pre-Civil War maritime law – a routine but important procedure in such cases. A federal court in Maryland will ultimately decide who is responsible for what could be the costliest maritime disaster in history and how much they owe.
Grace Ocean Private Ltd. based in Singapore, is the owner of the Dali, the ship that veered off course and crashed into the bridge. Synergy Marine Pte Ltd., also based in Singapore, is the vessel manager.
In their filing Monday, the city’s lawyers accused them of negligence and argued that, among other things, the companies should have recognized that the Dali was unfit to travel and manned the ship with a competent crew.
A spokesman for the companies said Monday that it would be inappropriate to comment on the pending litigation.
The ship was en route to Sri Lanka when it lost power shortly after leaving Baltimore and struck one of the bridge’s supporting columns, causing the bridge to collapse and six members of a road construction crew to fall to their deaths.
“For more than four decades, cargo ships have made thousands of trips under the Key Bridge each year without incident,” the city’s complaint states. “There was nothing on March 26, 2024 that should have changed that.”
FBI agents boarded the stuck ship last week as part of a criminal investigation. A separate federal investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board will include an investigation into whether the ship suffered an accident Power problems before the trip began, officials said. This investigation will generally focus on the Dali’s electrical system.
In their earlier petition, Grace Ocean and Synergy sought to limit their liability to approximately $43.6 million. The petition estimates that the ship itself is worth up to $90 million and is due over $1.1 million in cargo revenue. The estimate also deducts two major expenses: at least $28 million in repair costs and at least $19.5 million in recovery costs.
Grace Ocean has also recently initiated a process requiring the owners of onboard cargo to cover part of the salvage costs. The company did a “hood-sized” declarationallowing an external expert to determine what contribution each stakeholder should make.
Baltimore officials argue that the ship’s owner and manager should be held responsible for their roles in the disaster, which has halted most maritime traffic through the Port of Baltimore and disrupted a key East Coast trucking route . The economic impact could be devastating for the Baltimore region, the filing said.
“Petitioners’ negligence led them to destroy the Key Bridge and single-handedly close the Port of Baltimore, a source of jobs, municipal revenue, etc not a little pride for the city of Baltimore and its residents,” the attorneys wrote.
Lawyers representing the collapse victims and their families have also pledged to hold the companies accountable and oppose their demands for limited liability.
Meanwhile, recovery teams are working to remove thousands of tons of collapsed steel and concrete from the Patapsco River. They have opened three temporary channels to allow some ships to pass through the area, but the port’s main shipping channel is expected to remain closed for several more weeks.