The ship was headed to Sri Lanka when it lost power shortly after leaving Baltimore and struck one of the bridge’s support columns, collapsing the span and sending six members of a roadwork crew plunging to their deaths.
“For more than four decades, cargo ships made thousands of trips every year under the Key Bridge without incident,” the city’s complaint reads. “There was nothing about Mar 26, 2024 that should have changed that.”
FBI agents boarded the stalled ship last week amid a criminal investigation. A separate federal probe by the National Transportation Safety Board will include an inquiry into whether the ship experienced power issues before starting its voyage, officials have said. That investigation will focus generally on the Dali’s electrical system.
In their earlier petition, Grace Ocean and Synergy sought to cap their liability at roughly US$43.6 million. The petition estimates that the vessel itself is valued at up to US$90 million and was owed over US$1.1 million in income from freight. The estimate also deducts two major expenses: at least US$28 million in repair costs and at least US$19.5 million in salvage costs.
Grace Ocean also recently initiated a process requiring owners of the cargo on board to cover some of the salvage costs. The company made a “general average” declaration, which allows a third-party adjuster to determine what each stakeholder should contribute.
