Dali owner knew of problems before ship hit Baltimore bridge, U.S. alleges
Posted on 09/18/2024
The owners of the cargo ship that crashed into Baltimore?s Francis Scott Key Bridge earlier this year, collapsing the span and killing six workers aboard it, prioritized profits over safety and knowingly let a dangerous, unseaworthy vessel loose on the open water, Justice Department attorneys asserted in a court filing Wednesday.
The court filing ? signed by attorneys for the Justice Department and the U.S. attorney?s office in Maryland ? revealed new details of mechanical problems on the Dali container ship and described how its owners took a ?Band-Aid approach? to fixing some of them before the crash. It came as part of a civil case in which the ship?s owner, Grace Ocean Private Limited, and operator, Synergy Marine Pte Ltd, are trying to cap how much money they could be asked to pay in liabilities at about $43.6 million.
?The ship?s owner and manager?who now ask the Court to limit their liability to less than $44 million?sent an ill-prepared crew on an abjectly unseaworthy vessel to ply the United States? waterways,? attorneys wrote in the filing. ?They did so to reap the profits of conducting business in American ports, while at the same time cutting corners in ways that risked lives and infrastructure so that they could save time and money. Those responsible for the vessel must be held fully accountable for the catastrophic harm they caused, and punitive damages should be imposed to deter such misconduct.?
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A spokesperson for Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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The filing alleges the U.S. government incurred more than $100 million in losses and costs to clean the bridge wreckage and reopen the Port of Baltimore, a key East Coast shipping hub. It comes just before a Tuesday deadline for involved parties to object to the owner?s request for a damages cap in a case that is likely to be litigated for years, with potentially billions of dollars at stake.
The city of Baltimore and business owners in the region have also challenged the Dali owner?s and operator?s attempts to limit their monetary liability. In the coming days, attorneys for the families of those killed, as well as the state of Maryland, are also expected to make similar arguments in court against the requested cap.
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The FBI has opened a criminal investigation into whether the ship?s crew and owner allowed the Dali to leave port knowing the vessel had serious system problems, though no one has yet been charged criminally with any wrongdoing. But Wednesday?s filing makes clear that U.S. officials believe that laws were violated.
?This tragedy was entirely avoidable,? Justice Department attorneys wrote. ?The electrical and mechanical systems on the DALI were improperly maintained and configured in a way that violated safety regulations and norms for international shipping.?
The ship also experienced power loss the day before the crash ? a matter that, by law, should have been reported to the Coast Guard, but was not, according to the filing.
The National Transportation Safety Board, which is also investigating the incident, has said previously that the Dali suffered two electrical blackouts the day before the collision and experienced two more blackouts that disabled critical equipment, causing it to careen into a massive bridge spanning the frigid Patapsco River where an eight-person construction crew was doing road repairs.
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The Justice Department filing, though, offers a far more detailed and plainspoken account of maintenance issues on the ship and what caused them, as well as a timeline of the minutes before the Dali hit the bridge.
All four backstops meant to help control the ship ? the propeller, rudder, anchor and bow thruster ? failed to work in the critical moments before the crash because, the department alleged, the Dali was unseaworthy.
The department alleged that about four minutes before the Dali collided with the Key Bridge, its key ?number 1? electrical transformer tripped and cut power. That transformer, according to the filing, had long suffered the effects of heavy vibration, which is known to cause systems failures. But rather than fixing the problem, the department said, the ship?s owner and operator ?took a Band-Aid approach.?
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?They retrofitted the transformer with anti-vibration braces, one of which had cracked over time, had been repaired with welds, and had cracked again,? Justice Department attorneys wrote. ?And they also wedged a metal cargo hook between the transformer and a nearby steel beam, in a makeshift attempt to limit vibration.?
The Justice Department alleged that vibration problems on the ship were ?not isolated.? A former chief officer reported that they were shaking loose the ship?s cargo lashings, and engineers reported they were cracking equipment in the engine room, according to the filing. Those ?heavy vibrations? had been reported to Synergy, according to a prior Dali captain.
When the number 1 transformer failed on March 26 ? plunging the crew into complete darkness ? power should have transferred automatically to a backup, ?number 2? transformer within seconds, Justice Department attorneys asserted. But that automated function, they wrote, had been ?recklessly disabled,? leaving engineers struggling in the dark to manually reset tripped circuit breakers, a process that took a full minute as the ship surged closer to the bridge.
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At the same time, a separate emergency generator should have turned on automatically and restored power steering ? a backstop that maritime regulations require to kick in within 45 seconds of an outage. But it did not activate for well over a minute, Justice Department attorneys wrote, causing ?more time wasted.?
Once power was restored to the ship?s steering system ? known as the helm ? a Maryland state pilot who had come aboard in port began issuing orders to steer the ship away from the bridge support beams. But the failed transformers meant the Dali?s propeller still was not working.
Then the ship lost power again.
This time, the Justice Department alleged the cause was an improper fuel pump, called a ?flushing pump,? which the attorneys said the ship?s owners used ?to save money and for their own convenience.?
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?It was not designed to recover automatically from a blackout, a critical safety feature of the proper fuel pumps that the DALI should have been using,? department attorneys wrote, calling the choice to use a flushing pump instead ?grossly negligent.?
After both blackouts, the pilot resorted to the left anchor, giving an emergency order to release it in hopes of forcing the Dali away from the bridge, according to the filing. But the anchor ?was not ready for immediate release in an emergency, as required by law,? and by the time it dropped, it was too late, the attorneys alleged.
In a separate, ?last-ditch? attempt to avoid a crash, the department said the pilot ordered the crew to apply full power to the ship?s bow thruster ? a propeller on the front of the vessel that helps it move side to side. But when nothing happened, according to the filing, the pilot was told the bow thruster was unavailable.
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At 1:28 a.m., the ship slammed into the bridge.
Six people were killed and two were injured as the roadway fell into the river below, cutting off the Port of Baltimore?s shipping channel for months as the state and federal government worked to recover the bodies of the construction workers and remove massive chunks of debris.
The Justice Department blamed Grace Ocean and Synergy in the filing for mismanaging the Dali and failing to train its crew, adding that during a recent inspection, officials found ?loose bolts, nuts, and washers and broken electrical cable ties inside of both step-down transformers and electrical switchboards.? The ship?s electrical equipment ?was in such poor condition that an independent testing agency discontinued further electrical testing due to ?safety concerns,?? the filing said.
?The Baltimore region continues to feel the adverse impacts of this entirely avoidable tragedy,? the Justice Department attorneys wrote in court papers.
The court filing ? signed by attorneys for the Justice Department and the U.S. attorney?s office in Maryland ? revealed new details of mechanical problems on the Dali container ship and described how its owners took a ?Band-Aid approach? to fixing some of them before the crash. It came as part of a civil case in which the ship?s owner, Grace Ocean Private Limited, and operator, Synergy Marine Pte Ltd, are trying to cap how much money they could be asked to pay in liabilities at about $43.6 million.
?The ship?s owner and manager?who now ask the Court to limit their liability to less than $44 million?sent an ill-prepared crew on an abjectly unseaworthy vessel to ply the United States? waterways,? attorneys wrote in the filing. ?They did so to reap the profits of conducting business in American ports, while at the same time cutting corners in ways that risked lives and infrastructure so that they could save time and money. Those responsible for the vessel must be held fully accountable for the catastrophic harm they caused, and punitive damages should be imposed to deter such misconduct.?
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A spokesperson for Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Make the most of the DMV with our newsletter
Make living in D.C. a little easier and more fun. Sign up for the Post Local newsletter to get local news, weather and expert advice ? where to eat, where to drink and how to get around ? every weekday.
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The filing alleges the U.S. government incurred more than $100 million in losses and costs to clean the bridge wreckage and reopen the Port of Baltimore, a key East Coast shipping hub. It comes just before a Tuesday deadline for involved parties to object to the owner?s request for a damages cap in a case that is likely to be litigated for years, with potentially billions of dollars at stake.
The city of Baltimore and business owners in the region have also challenged the Dali owner?s and operator?s attempts to limit their monetary liability. In the coming days, attorneys for the families of those killed, as well as the state of Maryland, are also expected to make similar arguments in court against the requested cap.
Advertisement
The FBI has opened a criminal investigation into whether the ship?s crew and owner allowed the Dali to leave port knowing the vessel had serious system problems, though no one has yet been charged criminally with any wrongdoing. But Wednesday?s filing makes clear that U.S. officials believe that laws were violated.
?This tragedy was entirely avoidable,? Justice Department attorneys wrote. ?The electrical and mechanical systems on the DALI were improperly maintained and configured in a way that violated safety regulations and norms for international shipping.?
The ship also experienced power loss the day before the crash ? a matter that, by law, should have been reported to the Coast Guard, but was not, according to the filing.
The National Transportation Safety Board, which is also investigating the incident, has said previously that the Dali suffered two electrical blackouts the day before the collision and experienced two more blackouts that disabled critical equipment, causing it to careen into a massive bridge spanning the frigid Patapsco River where an eight-person construction crew was doing road repairs.
Advertisement
The Justice Department filing, though, offers a far more detailed and plainspoken account of maintenance issues on the ship and what caused them, as well as a timeline of the minutes before the Dali hit the bridge.
All four backstops meant to help control the ship ? the propeller, rudder, anchor and bow thruster ? failed to work in the critical moments before the crash because, the department alleged, the Dali was unseaworthy.
The department alleged that about four minutes before the Dali collided with the Key Bridge, its key ?number 1? electrical transformer tripped and cut power. That transformer, according to the filing, had long suffered the effects of heavy vibration, which is known to cause systems failures. But rather than fixing the problem, the department said, the ship?s owner and operator ?took a Band-Aid approach.?
Advertisement
?They retrofitted the transformer with anti-vibration braces, one of which had cracked over time, had been repaired with welds, and had cracked again,? Justice Department attorneys wrote. ?And they also wedged a metal cargo hook between the transformer and a nearby steel beam, in a makeshift attempt to limit vibration.?
The Justice Department alleged that vibration problems on the ship were ?not isolated.? A former chief officer reported that they were shaking loose the ship?s cargo lashings, and engineers reported they were cracking equipment in the engine room, according to the filing. Those ?heavy vibrations? had been reported to Synergy, according to a prior Dali captain.
When the number 1 transformer failed on March 26 ? plunging the crew into complete darkness ? power should have transferred automatically to a backup, ?number 2? transformer within seconds, Justice Department attorneys asserted. But that automated function, they wrote, had been ?recklessly disabled,? leaving engineers struggling in the dark to manually reset tripped circuit breakers, a process that took a full minute as the ship surged closer to the bridge.
Advertisement
At the same time, a separate emergency generator should have turned on automatically and restored power steering ? a backstop that maritime regulations require to kick in within 45 seconds of an outage. But it did not activate for well over a minute, Justice Department attorneys wrote, causing ?more time wasted.?
Once power was restored to the ship?s steering system ? known as the helm ? a Maryland state pilot who had come aboard in port began issuing orders to steer the ship away from the bridge support beams. But the failed transformers meant the Dali?s propeller still was not working.
Then the ship lost power again.
This time, the Justice Department alleged the cause was an improper fuel pump, called a ?flushing pump,? which the attorneys said the ship?s owners used ?to save money and for their own convenience.?
Advertisement
?It was not designed to recover automatically from a blackout, a critical safety feature of the proper fuel pumps that the DALI should have been using,? department attorneys wrote, calling the choice to use a flushing pump instead ?grossly negligent.?
After both blackouts, the pilot resorted to the left anchor, giving an emergency order to release it in hopes of forcing the Dali away from the bridge, according to the filing. But the anchor ?was not ready for immediate release in an emergency, as required by law,? and by the time it dropped, it was too late, the attorneys alleged.
In a separate, ?last-ditch? attempt to avoid a crash, the department said the pilot ordered the crew to apply full power to the ship?s bow thruster ? a propeller on the front of the vessel that helps it move side to side. But when nothing happened, according to the filing, the pilot was told the bow thruster was unavailable.
Advertisement
At 1:28 a.m., the ship slammed into the bridge.
Six people were killed and two were injured as the roadway fell into the river below, cutting off the Port of Baltimore?s shipping channel for months as the state and federal government worked to recover the bodies of the construction workers and remove massive chunks of debris.
The Justice Department blamed Grace Ocean and Synergy in the filing for mismanaging the Dali and failing to train its crew, adding that during a recent inspection, officials found ?loose bolts, nuts, and washers and broken electrical cable ties inside of both step-down transformers and electrical switchboards.? The ship?s electrical equipment ?was in such poor condition that an independent testing agency discontinued further electrical testing due to ?safety concerns,?? the filing said.
?The Baltimore region continues to feel the adverse impacts of this entirely avoidable tragedy,? the Justice Department attorneys wrote in court papers.
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