The U.S. Justice Department has announced that Singaporean companies Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine, operators of the Dali vessel, have agreed to settle a civil claim for costs from the catastrophic Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse.
The settlement settles the US’ civil damages claims of $103 million under the Rivers and Harbors Act, the Oil Pollution Act, and basic maritime law.
The settlement funds will be sent to the United States Treasury as well as the budgets of various government departments immediately affected by the agreement or participating in the response.
Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General, Benjamin C. Mizer, said: “Nearly seven months after one of the worst transportation disasters in recent memory, which claimed six lives and caused untold damage, we have reached an important milestone with today’s settlement.
“Thanks to the hard work of the Justice Department attorneys since day one of this disaster, we were able to secure this early settlement of our claim, just over one month into litigation. This resolution ensures that the costs of the federal government’s cleanup efforts in the Fort McHenry Channel are borne by Grace Ocean and Synergy and not the American taxpayer.”
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Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Brian M. Boynton, Head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, stated: “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. The prompt resolution of this matter also avoids the expense associated with litigating this complex case for potentially years.”
The Motor Vessel Dali departed the Port of Baltimore early on 26 March for Sri Lanka. While traversing the Fort McHenry Channel, the vessel lost power, regained it, and then lost it again before colliding with the bridge.
The bridge collapsed and plummeted into the river, killing six people. In addition to the devastating loss of life, the Dali crash and bridge wreckage clogged the navigable river, bringing all trade into and out of the Port of Baltimore to a standstill.
The US spearheaded the response activities of hundreds of federal, state, and local organizations in removing around 50,000 tonnes of steel, concrete, and asphalt from the canal and the Dali itself.
While removal activities were underway, the US established temporary channels to begin alleviating the port bottleneck and mitigating some of the economic destruction inflicted by Dali.
By 10 June, the Fort McHenry Channel had been cleared, and commercial sailing in the Port of Baltimore had resumed.
The Department’s claim was part of a civil case brought immediately after the catastrophe by the vessel companies seeking exoneration or limiting their culpability to $43.7 million.
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Grace Ocean recently paid $97,294 to the Coast Guard National Pollution Fund Center to mitigate oil contamination caused by the incident.
The settlement excludes any damages for the reconstruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. The State of Maryland constructed, owned, maintained, and managed the bridge, and attorneys representing the state filed their own claim for the losses.
According to the governing regulation, funds recovered by the State of Maryland for bridge restoration will be utilised to lower project expenses, which were initially paid for with federal tax dollars.
The civil case was resolved by attorneys from the Civil Division’s Aviation, Space, and Admiralty Litigation Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland, Baltimore Division.