THE FIRST of at least sixty cases brought against the owners and managers of the containership Dali has been settled.

The US Department of Justice on Friday [25 October] announced Grace Ocean Pte Ltd and Synergy Marine Pte Ltd have agreed to pay US$102 million to resolve a civil claim brought by the DoJ for costs borne in responding to the allision with and consequent collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, struck by the Maersk-chartered vessel on 26 March.  

The DoJ launched its lawsuit on 18 September, after Grace Ocean and Synergy filed to limit their liability to US$43.7 million. The settlement is on top of a US$87,294 payment already made to the Coast Guard National Pollution Fund Center to limit pollution. 

However, the two companies point out that this settlement strictly covers costs relating to incident management and clean-up and involves no admission of liability: no punitive damages have been imposed, and the settlement is covered by insurance.

“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,” said principal deputy associate attorney general Benjamin Mizer.

“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 clean-up efforts in the Fort McHenry Channel are borne by Grace Ocean and Synergy and not the American taxpayer.” 

Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine face dozens of other claims, such as from the State of Maryland which estimates the cost of replacement of the Francis Scott Key Bridge at more than US$1 billion.

In May the National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report into the Dali incident finding that the vessel suffered electrical blackouts about 10 hours before leaving the Port of Baltimore and again shortly before it slammed into the bridge.

Dali is currently on its way to China for repairs.