Six months after the Francis-Scott-Key Highway bridge collapsed in Baltimore, US authorities on Wednesday 18 September initiated legal action against the Singaporean companies that owned and operated the container ship that was stuck there. “This tragedy was totally avoidable”The United States claims that it is demanding more than 100 million dollars (almost 90 million euros) in compensation.
On March 26, the container ship Dali, leaving the port of Baltimore, suffered several electrical damages and became embedded in the Francis-Scott-Key Bridge, which collapsed like a house of cards. It took more than two months of work to restore normal maritime traffic in the port.
The complaint filed on Wednesday by the Ministry of Justice against the companies Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine, respectively the owner and manager of the ship, aims to recover the expenses incurred by the federal government in these operations. “Through this civil suit, the Justice Department wants to shift the costs of cleaning up the canal and reopening the Port of Baltimore to the companies that caused the accident, not to American taxpayers.”Minister Merrick Garland explained in a press release.
“This accident was caused by the gross negligence of Grace Ocean and Synergy, who recklessly decided to send an unseaworthy vessel into a crucial shipping lane while ignoring the risks to American lives and national infrastructure.Chetan Patil, a senior ministry official, was also quoted in the report as saying he was outraged. The complaint also seeks to challenge the request made in April by the two Singaporean companies to the US courts to limit their exposure to a maximum of $43.67 million.
Six workers carrying out repair work on the bridge, all Latin American immigrants, died. Their families have announced their intention to take legal action on their own. As for the cost of rebuilding the bridge, since it is property of the State of Maryland, it will be up to the state authorities to seek legal redress, the ministry stressed.
