$102 Million Settlement Reached With FBI Over Response To Baltimore Bridge Collapse, Cleanup

The owner and operator of the M/V Dali will pay the federal government nearly $102 million to cover response and debris removal costs resulting from the disaster. March 26 collapse from the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland.

The payment from Singapore-based Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and Synergy Marine Private Ltd. arranges one 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 pillars following two consecutive apparent power losses.

The collision caused six spans of the 50-year-old truss structure to collapse into the Patapsco River, blocking the deep canal that serves the Port of Baltimore. Six construction workers also died in the incident, which remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. A criminal investigation is also conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The next 10 weeks will a huge rescue operation removed approximately 50,000 tons from the canal, which was fully reopened on June 10.

In its filing, the federal government alleged that Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine failed to address known problems with the Dali’s mechanical and electrical systems prior to the ship’s departure from the Port of Baltimore en route to Sri Lanka. As such, the filing stated, the two companies were liable for more than $103 million in debris removal and canal reopening borne by multiple federal agencies under the Rivers and Harbors Act, the Oil Pollution Act and general maritime law.

According to a statement from the DOJ, the settlement funds will go to the U.S. Treasury Department and the budgets of federal agencies directly affected by the collision or involved in the response. Grace Ocean also paid $97,294 to the Coast Guard National Pollution Fund Center for oil spill response costs, DOJ said.

The settlement does not apply to the expected costs of $1.2 billion rebuild the Key Bridge, a four-year project that will start early next year by a Kiewit-led team under a progressive design-build contract.

The government’s claim was part of a legal action filed in April by Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine that sought to limit their liability for the incident to $43.67 million – the ship’s estimated net present value and the cargo minus repair and salvage costs – citing previous interpretations of U.S. open water and navigation law.

With pending lawsuits from the state of Maryland, the city of Baltimore and others affected by the crash, “the ship owners and insurers likely quickly reached an agreement to avoid the potential punitive damages alleged in the Justice Department civil suit , and a long and expensive fight. as well,” says attorney David Suchar, chairman of the Construction & Real Estate Litigation Group at Washington, D.C.-based Mason LLP. “This settlement is likely the first step in a series of multiple insurance payments in response to this enormous loss.”