Shipbuilder sued by owner, operator of ship in
deadly Baltimore bridge collapse
The owner and operator of the container ship involved in
a deadly Baltimore bridge collapse in March 2024 are
suing the ship's builder, alleging a defective control panel
design caused a power outage that led to the disaster.
The Dali twice lost power as it was departing Baltimore
harbor and drifted out of control into a support of the
Francis Scott Key Bridge, collapsing the span and killing
six highway workers.
The collapse also caused an extended supply chain snarl
at the Port of Baltimore, which hosts a major coal
terminal and had been the leading U.S. hub for vehicle
imports.
In a lawsuit filed July 31 in the U.S. District Court for the
Eastern District of Pennsylvania, owner Grace Ocean
Private Limited and operator Synergy Marine Private
Limited accused Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), the
ship's builder, of negligence that caused the fatal
incident.
The plaintiffs charged that a defective design, specifically
a loose wire in an electrical switchboard, caused a power
outage at 1:25 a.m. the night of the collapse, cutting
power to the engine and steering systems.
The National Transportation Safety Board in a 2024
report found that a cable that should have connected to a
control for blackout protection was loose. That could
have caused the switchboard to lose power without being
detected.
Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine have denied
wrongdoing since April 2024 but late that same year
agreed to pay $102 million for civil claims brought by the
federal government and other incident-related costs.
The plaintiffs are seeking damages for vessel repairs and
coverage for any third party claims.
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/shipbuilder-sued-by-owner-operato
r-of-ship-in-deadly-baltimore-bridge-collapse
