The city of Baltimore this week sued the owner and operator of the M/V Dali containership that collided with the Francis Scott key bridge on March 26, causing the structure to collapse and forcing the closure of the nearby ocean freight port.
According to published reports, the case accuses both the owner of the container ship, Grace Ocean Private Ltd., and its operator, Synergy Marine Group, of being "grossly and potentially criminally negligent" and of allowing the ship to leave the port despite being “clearly unseaworthy.”
Six road workers were killed in the accident, and a colossal cleanup operation is still underway to clear wreckage and debris from the Patapsco River so the Port of Baltimore can resume operations.
The lawsuit follows an earlier court petition filed on April 1 by the two Singapore-based companies that seeks to limit their liability. But the latest suit argues against that financial protection, saying the companies should bear full responsibility for the crash since they allegedly let the ship leave the Port of Baltimore without fixing its known power problems.
Maersk, the Danish maritime freight company that had chartered the 984-foot-long Dali to carry some 4,700 containers, was not named in the lawsuit.
