Baltimore accuses firms behind Dali ship that destroyed bridge of negligence

April 23 (UPI) -- The city of Baltimore is blaming the the owner and manager of a merchant vessel that crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge late last month of negligence.

In a filing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, Northern Division, the city of Baltimore and its council said Grace Ocean Private and Synergy Marine "were grossly and potentially criminally negligent" in their operations of the Dali container ship.

The 985-foot Dali container ship is owned by Grace Ocean Private and it is managed by Synergy Marine. Early March 26, the vessel lost power shortly after leaving the Port of Baltimore and crashed into the bridge, causing it to immediately collapse.

Six people were killed and nearly all commercial transit to the Port of Baltimore, one of the busiest in the United States, has since come to halt.

The filing on Monday is in response the companies asking the court to limit their potential liability payouts to $43.6 million. The city is asking the court to deny the firms' request.

"For more than four decades, cargo ships made thousands of trips every year under the Key Bridge without incident. There was noting about March 26, 2024, that should have changed that," the city said in its legal filing.

The city argues that Dali was operated despite being "a clearly unseaworthy vessel."

It said hours before departing, alarms had been going off on Dali showing that it had been experiencing an inconsistent power supply, which was either not investigated or investigated but not fixed.

"The allision was a direct and proximate result of petitioners' carelessness, negligence, gross negligence and recklessness and as a result of the unseaworthiness of the vessel," the city said.

The city accuses the companies of committing 23 acts and omissions related to their alleged negligence, from providing the vessel with an incompetent crew to failing to properly maintain and operate the ship's engine and propulsion system.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has also opened a criminal investigation into the collapse of the bridge.