U.S sues owner of cargo ship that destroyed Baltimore bridge over cleanup costs

The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday filed a civil claim seeking more than $100 million (Ksh.12.9 billion) from the owner and operator of the container ship that destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore killing six and paralyzing a major transportation artery for the U.S. Northeast.

The department is seeking to recover the $103 million(approx. 13.3 billion) the United States incurred in responding to the disaster and for clearing the wreck and bridge debris so the Port of Baltimore could reopen in June.

The department also is seeking an unspecified sum in punitive damages, alleging negligence by Grace Ocean Private Limited and Synergy Marine Private Limited, the Singaporean corporations that owned and operated the Dali cargo ship.

"This was an entirely avoidable catastrophe, resulting from a series of eminently foreseeable errors made by the owner and operator of the Dali," Brian Boynton, who heads the Justice Department's Civil Division, said in a statement.

Representatives for Grace Ocean and Synergy could not immediately be reached for comment.

In April, the FBI opened a criminal probe into the collapse. The National Transportation Safety Board said in May the Dali lost electrical power several times before it crashed into the bridge in the early morning of March 26.

The ship crashed into a support pylon, sending the Francis Scott Key Bridge plunging into the Patapsco River and killing six people who were working on the span.

Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Benjamin Mizer told reporters that the ship's owner and operator were aware of longstanding issues with the Dali's electrical and mechanical systems and failed to correct them "out of negligence, mismanagement, and, at times, a desire to cut costs."

"As a result, when the Dali lost power, a cascading set of failures led to disaster," Mizer said.

The reopening required the removal of 50,000 tons of debris from the March 26 collapse of the Key Bridge. More than 1,500 individual responders along with 500 specialists from around the world operated a fleet of boats during the operation which involved 56 federal, state, and local agencies.

Maryland estimates it will cost $1.7 billion (approx. 219.3 billion) to $1.9 billion (around Ksh.245.1 billion) to rebuild the bridge and anticipates completion by fall 2028.

The department's lawsuit was brought as part of a legal action initiated by Grace Ocean and Synergy to limit their liability for the crash to $44 million (Ksh.5.7 billion), a sum Justice Department officials called "woefully inadequate."