Francis Scott Key Bridge Collapse
$102M Settlement Reached With Feds Over Baltimore Bridge Collapse Response, Clean Up
First of several expected settlements with vessel's owner and operator
The Mar. 26 crash of the M/V Dali into a support pier of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed the bridge.
Photo by Bruce Buckley/ENR
The owner and operator of the M/V Dali will pay the federal government nearly $102 million to cover the response and debris clean-up costs arising from the March 26 collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Md.
The payment from Singapore-based Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and Synergy Marine Private Ltd. settles a civil claim filed in mid-September by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to compensate federal agencies for their efforts after the Dali struck one of the bridge’s main support piers main span after two successive apparent power losses.
The collision collapsed six spans of the 50-year-old through-truss structure into the Patapsco River, blocking the deep-draft channel serving the Port of Baltimore. Six construction workers were also killed in the incident, which remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. A criminal investigation is also underway by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Over the next 10 weeks, a massive salvage effort removed approximately 50,000 tons from the channel, which was fully reopened on June 10.
In its filing, the federal government claimed Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine failed to address known problems with the Dali’s mechanical and electrical systems prior to the vessel’s departure from Port of Baltimore en route to Sri Lanka. As such, the filing asserted, the two companies were liable for more than $103 million in debris removal and channel reopening costs borne by multiple federal agencies under Rivers and Harbors Act, the Oil Pollution Act, and general maritime law.
According to a DOJ statement, settlement monies will go to the U.S. Treasury, and to the budgets of federal agencies directly affected by the collision or involved in the response. Grace Ocean has also paid $97,294 to the Coast Guard National Pollution Fund Center for oil pollution abatement costs, DOJ said.
The settlement does not apply to the expected $1.2-billion cost to rebuild the Key Bridge, a four-year project that is set to begin early next-year by a Kiewit-led team under a progressive design-build contract.
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The government’s claim was part of a legal action filed in April by Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine that seeks to limit their liability from the incident to $43.67 million—the companies’ estimated net present value of the ship and cargo minus repair and salvage costs—citing previous interpretations of U.S. open-water and navigation law.
With pending litigation from the state of Maryland, the City of Baltimore and others affected by the crash, “the vessel owners and insurers likely quickly struck the deal to avoid the potential punitive damages alleged in the DOJ’s civil suit, and a long and expensive fight as well,” says attorney David Suchar, chair of the Construction & Real Estate Litigation Group at Minneapolis-based Maslon LLP. “This settlement is likely the first step in a series of multiple insurance payouts in response to this massive loss.”
