Operator of ship in Baltimore bridge collapse will pay $100 million settlement, DOJ says

Nearly seven months after the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Maryland was struck by a shipping vessel and collapsed, the U.S. Justice Department have reached a settlement of more than $100 million with the companies that owned and operated the vessel, the Dali.

Grace Ocean Private Limited and Synergy Marine Private Limited have agreed to pay $101,980,000 to settle the civil clam brought by the U.S. for the costs to respond to the “catastrophic collapse,” the Justice Department said in a statement Thursday.

The agency said the money will go to the U.S. Treasury and other federal agencies that were directly affected by the incident or involved in the response.

In a complaint Sept. 18, the U.S. claimed civil damages totaling $103,078,056 under the Rivers and Harbors Act, Oil Pollution Act and general maritime law

There are still dozens of outstanding civil claims, including one from the state of Maryland, seeking damages from the owners of the Dali.

According to the DOJ, Thursday’s settlement does not include damages for the reconstruction of the bridge because Maryland built, owned, maintained and operated the bridge.

“This is a tremendous outcome that fully compensates the United States for the costs it incurred in responding to this disaster and holds the owner and operator of the DALI accountable,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, said in a statement. “The prompt resolution of this matter also avoids the expense associated with litigating this complex case for potentially years.”

The Dali smashed into the Key Bridge early March 26 after leaving the Port of Baltimore en route to Sri Lanka. The ship lost power, regained power, then lost power again before hitting the bridge, causing it to collapse into the Fort McHenry Channel.

Six people who were working on the bridge at the time died.

The shipwreck, unable to be moved, obstructed the channel for months, “bringing all shipping into and out of the Port of Baltimore to a standstill,” the DOJ said, adding that it also “severed a critical highway in the transportation infrastructure and blocked a key artery for local commuters.”

The Justice Department said the U.S. led response efforts including coordinating “dozens of federal, state, and local agencies to remove about 50,000 tons of steel, concrete, and asphalt from the channel and from the DALI itself.”

The U.S. also “set up temporary channels to start relieving the bottleneck at the port and mitigate some of the economic devastation caused by the DALI,” the DOJ said.