BALTIMORE (CN) — The Justice Department on Wednesday sued the owner and operator of a container ship that crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in March, killing six, seeking more than $100 million from the civil negligence charges.
“This was an entirely avoidable catastrophe, resulting from a series of eminently foreseeable errors made by the owner and operator of the Dali,” General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s civil division, said in a statement announcing the lawsuit.
Dali, the ship, lost power after heavy vibrations caused its transformer to malfunction. The government says that’s because ship owner Grace Ocean and operator Synergy Marine, both based in Singapore, cut corners.
“Instead of taking steps to eliminate the source of excessive vibrations, petitioners jury-rigged their ship,” the government wrote in its complaint.
Less than a week after the crash, Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine filed a petition seeking to limit their liability to $44 million. The government on Wednesday said that sum was a far cry from the cost of the nearly two-month effort by more than 1,500 responders from federal, state and local agencies who had to clear 50,000 pounds of tons of steel, concrete and asphalt from the Fort McHenry Channel.
“With this civil claim, the Justice Department is working to ensure that the costs of clearing the channel and reopening the Port of Baltimore are borne by the companies that caused the crash, not by the American taxpayer,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
In addition to negligence, the government brings claims for public nuisance and violations of the Rivers and Harbors Act and the Oil Pollution Act. The government seeks $103 million in damages.
The nearly 300-meter vessel left Baltimore on March 26, bound for Colombo, Sri Lanka, with an ultimate destination of Yantian, China. The Maryland-licensed pilot assigned to help navigate the ship through the channel claims the captain assured him of its seaworthiness.
Dali lost power four minutes away from the bridge when circuit breakers for the No. 1 step-down transformer tripped open. The ship’s four means of stopping — its rudder, propeller, anchor and bow thruster — all were inoperable, according to the government. And its backup transformer was disabled, leaving engineers mere minutes to manually reset the tripped circuit breakers for the first transformer in the dark.
Maritime regulations call for the backup generator to turn on in 45 seconds, but it took the Dali over a minute. The ship lost power again around a minute after it regained it. The government claims the owner and operator equipped the vessel with inefficient flushing pumps to fuel the diesel generators that made the ship’s electricity to save money.
With less than two minutes until impact, Dali’s pilot ordered its crew to drop anchor, hoping to pull the vessel away from the bridge.
“But because the Dali’s anchor was not ready for immediate release in an emergency, as required by law, nothing happened,” the government wrote in its brief. “By the time the ship finally dropped anchor, less than half a ship’s length from the bridge, it was too late to have any effect.”
In a last-gasp effort, the pilot gave an order to apply full power to the bow thruster. When nothing happened, the pilot was told the bow thruster was unavailable. What happened next made international headlines as the vessel collided with a pillar of the 45-year-old bridge.
“The Justice Department is committed to ensuring accountability for those responsible for the destruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which resulted in the tragic deaths of six people and disrupted our country’s transportation and defense infrastructure,” Garland said.
Representatives for Ocean Grace and Synergy Marine failed to respond to requests for comment. The federal government seeks damages only for the cost of clearing the crash. Maryland owned the bridge and may bring its own claims over its collapse.
“In so many ways, the Key Bridge has symbolized the resilience of both the State of Maryland and our Nation. In a very real way, the Key Bridge was a pathway to the American Dream. A part of our culture is gone,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron said in a statement. “Those responsible for the Key Bridge collapse will be held accountable.”