US sues ship owner and operator over Baltimore Key Bridge collapse: NPR

The Justice Department sued the owner and operator of the container ship Daly, alleging negligence and risky cost-cutting decisions that caused the ship to enter and destroy Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge.

The disaster killed six construction workers and shut down a busy port for months; It also destroyed a portion of Interstate 695 carried by the bridge.

“The owner and manager of the vessel … sent an unprepared crew aboard a vessel grossly unfit to navigate the waterways of the United States,” the Justice Department alleged in a civil claim filed Wednesday in federal court in Maryland.

Companies, not taxpayers, should pay, DOJ says

The government is suing two Singapore-based companies, Grays Ocean Pvt Ltd and Synergy Marine Pvt Ltd, over $100 million in US disaster response costs.

Rescue crews removed wreckage from the Daly on May 8, six weeks after the freighter Daly hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. 6 people died in the March 26 collapse.

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“The Department of Justice is committed to ensuring accountability for those responsible for the tragic death of six people and the destruction of our nation’s transportation and safety infrastructure,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a news release.

The civil claim cites the costs of emergency response to the disaster and the removal of about 50,000 tons of steel and other materials, creating a temporary channel for ships to enter and exit the port.

Those costs, Garland said, “should be borne by the companies that caused the accident, not by the American taxpayer.”

According to court filings, the ship’s owner, Grace Ocean, and its operator, Synergy, sought to settle liability for less than $44 million.

The federal claim does not include the cost of rebuilding the bridge: Because Maryland built and owns the bridge, the state will pursue its own compensation, according to the court.

Army Corps of Engineers conducts controlled demolition to remove debris from the Francis Scott Key Bridge of the freighter Daly on the Patapsco River in Baltimore on May 13. A 500-foot section of the bridge, weighing 8-12 million pounds, was removed by controlled demolition in the final phase of removing the debris so that the ship could be moved to port.

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The US says the disaster was “entirely avoidable” and was caused by a series of failures that resulted in the ship losing power – and thus, its ability to steer.

As the ship went into crisis under the command of a qualified local pilot, “None of the four means of controlling Dolly – her propeller, rudder, anchor or bow thrust – worked when they were needed to prevent or mitigate this disaster.

America is blamed for repeated failures at critical moments

A picture filed in a judicial court shows a cargo chain turnbuckle welded to an angle piece of metal between a transformer (left) and a steel beam (right) on a dolly ship, in an apparent attempt to reduce vibrations that could damage electrical equipment. .
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The U.S. says Dali’s No. 1 step-down transformer — a large device that converts high-voltage power from diesel generators into usable low-voltage power — failed as the freighter approached the Key Bridge.

The transformer has long been known to suffer from severe vibrations, which raised the risk of eventual failure. But instead of fixing the problem, the Justice Department alleges that the owner and operator of the dolly “jury-rigged” their vessel, including welding a large hook in place in an attempt to brace the transformer.

The US claim describes what happened next:

“A failure in the No. 1 step-down transformer stopped all power going to the ship’s 440-volt electrical panel. The bridge and engine room became completely dark, the crew could not steer, and the main engine stopped, causing the propeller to stop turning. At that time, Shakti want Within a few seconds the backup No. 2 step-down transformer was automatically switched, still enough time to pull away from the bridge. But this automation, a safety feature in the hands of the tailor, is irresponsibly disabled. Engineers struggled in the dark to manually reset tripped circuit breakers for the No. 1 step-down transformer. It took them a full minute, wasting crucial time to regain control of the ship.

In the next few minutes, no backup system could bring enough power back to the ship to avoid hitting the bridge, the Justice Department says.

According to maritime regulations, a container ship that loses power can tap into an emergency generator within 45 seconds. But Daly went without power for “over a minute” after the original blackout.

With power back at the helm, the Maryland-based pilot gave orders to maneuver the ship into the center span of the bridge. But a minute later Dali’s power failed again. The suit alleges that the ship operators’ decision to fuel the diesel generators using a “flushing” pump rather than a standard fuel pump was made “to save money and for their own convenience.” That arrangement starved the generators because the flushing pump on the tally was not designed with a safety feature that automatically restarted after a power outage. As a result, the ship’s main engine and propeller were inoperable.

As the emergency intensified, the pilot called for Daly to release an anchor, hoping to pull the ship out of its collision course. But the anchor was not ready to fall.

“By the time the ship finally dropped anchor, less than half a ship’s length from the bridge, it was too late to have any effect,” it says.

A construction boat passes rescue crews as they work to clear debris from the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge over the Patapsco River on June 11 in Baltimore.

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Another last-minute emergency order to send full power to a bow thruster to turn the ship brought the response that the thruster was “not available,” according to an image of the ship’s log in the court document.

The Daly then crashed into a support vessel, and parts of the Francis Scott Key Bridge crashed into the vessel and into the Patapsco River.