Maryland demands damages from operators of cargo ship that wrecked Baltimore bridge

​​ANNAPOLIS, Md. (CN) — In the wake of last week’s Justice Department lawsuit, the state of Maryland filed suit Tuesday against the owner and operator of the container ship that crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in early 2024, killing six, injuring two others and collapsing the structure.

“Marylanders rallied and moved in partnership to take bold action following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. But the presence of action doesn’t mean the absence of accountability," Democratic Governor Wes Moore said in a statement alongside the suit.

The 56-page federal complaint names the Singaporean owners of the cargo ship, dubbed the Dali: Grace Ocean Private Limited and its manager the Synergy Marine Group. The state seeks damages for cleaning up the bridge, rebuilding it and the environmental and economic issues caused by the structure’s collapse.

“The grievous impact that petitioners’ culpable conduct has had on the State of Maryland, its people, its environment, and its economy cannot be overstated,” the Maryland suit said, noting that the bridge was “in excellent condition” and one of the state’s most valuable assets.

Before its collapse, the 1.6-mile bridge was part of the heavily traveled I-95 corridor and carried as many as 35,000 vehicles daily. It was also a detour for hazardous materials not allowed in the Baltimore Harbor or Fort McHenry tunnels. The 45-year-old structure spanned a section of the Patapsco River that served as a major shipping channel for the Port of Baltimore.

Maryland’s Democratic Attorney General Anthony Brown vowed to rebuild the bridge, but said Marylanders should not have to pay for the “negligence and incompetence."

“We have endured increased traffic and altered work commutes, degrading even the quality of the air we breathe," Brown continued in a statement. He said the state has also lost revenue from taxes and tolls.

The roughly 900-foot vessel left Baltimore around 12:45 a.m. on March 26, bound for Colombo, Sri Lanka, with an ultimate destination of Yantian, China. It lost power shortly after when heavy vibrations caused its transformer to malfunction. By 1:30 a.m. it had crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

Maryland’s federal suit faults the ship’s owner and manger for failing to fix power issues present the day before its crash, alleging the defects were months old.

The ship’s loss of electrical power, and thus its propulsion and steering capabilities, was “predictable,” Maryland said, echoing claims filed Sept. 18 by the U.S. Department of Justice. The Dali crew’s repair failures “compromised the ship’s ability to restore power,” the state added.

The ship’s crew misrepresented to two assigned Coast Guard pilots on the ship that the vessel was in “good working order,” the suit says, and if not for the pilots — who warned the Maryland Transportation Authority that the ship had lost control, so they could close the bridge to traffic — more lives may have been lost.

According to Maryland, more negligence came to light when the Coast Guard pilots asked the Dali’s crew, in the moments before the crash, to engage a bow thruster to steer the ship away from the bridge and drop an anchor.

The pilots were told the thruster was “unavailable” and the anchor was not immediately ready to be let go, as required by U.S. law. This resulted in it being released too late to stop the collision.

In its own claim, the Justice Department is seeking more than $100 million in civil negligence charges to cover the cost of clearing the wreckage from the Port of Baltimore’s waters. The families of three of the deceased construction workers also filed suit on Sept. 17 seeking compensatory damages. The city of Baltimore filed a negligence suit in April.