Public Affairs Office | U.S. reaches settlement for more than $100 million in civil lawsuit against owner, operator of ship that destroyed Francis Scott Key Bridge

The Ministry of Justice announced today that Grace Ocean Private Limited and Synergy Marine Private Limited, the Singapore companies that owned and operated the motor vessel DALI, had agreed to pay $101,980,000 to resolve a civil action brought by the United States for costs incurred in response to the complaint. catastrophic collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

The settlement resolves U.S. claims for civil damages in the amount of $103,078,056 under the Rivers and Harbors Act, the Oil Pollution Act, and general maritime law. Money from the settlement will go to the U.S. Treasury and the budgets of several federal agencies directly affected by the alliance or involved in the response.

Nearly seven months after one of the worst transportation disasters in recent memory, which claimed six lives and caused incalculable damage, we have taken an important step with today's settlement, said the Senior Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer. Thanks to the hard work of Department of Justice attorneys since day one of this disaster, we were able to obtain this rapid settlement of our claim, just over a month after the litigation began. 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.

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 DALI accountable, said Principal Assistant Attorney General Brian Mr. Boynton, head of the civil division of the Department of Justice. . Resolving this case quickly also avoids the expense associated with litigating this complex matter for potentially years.

In the early morning hours of March 26, the motor ship DALI departed Baltimore Harbor bound for Sri Lanka. While navigating the Fort McHenry Channel, the ship lost power, regained power, then lost power again before striking the bridge. The bridge collapsed and plunged into water, tragically killing six people. In addition to this heartbreaking loss of life, the wreck of the DALI and the remains of the bridge were left to obstruct the navigable channel, stranding all ships entering and leaving Baltimore Harbor. The loss of the bridge also cut off a highway critical to transportation infrastructure and blocked a key artery for local commuters.

The United States led response efforts by dozens of federal, state and local agencies to remove approximately 50,000 tons of steel, concrete and asphalt from the canal and DALI itself. While withdrawal operations were underway, the United States set up temporary channels to begin to ease the port bottleneck and alleviate some of the economic devastation caused by DALI. The Fort McHenry Channel was cleared on June 10, and Baltimore Harbor was once again open to commercial shipping.

On September 18, the Department of Justice filed a civil suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, seeking more than $100 million in damages from Grace Ocean and Synergy. The department's claim was part of a lawsuit the shipping companies filed shortly after the tragedy, in which they sought to exonerate or limit their liability to approximately $43.7 million. Today's settlement is in addition to $97,294 recently paid by Grace Ocean to the Coast Guard's National Pollution Fund Center for costs incurred to reduce the threat of oil pollution resulting from the incident.

The settlement does not include any damages for the reconstruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. The State of Maryland built, owned, maintained and operated the bridge, and attorneys on behalf of the State filed their own claim for these damages. Pursuant to current regulations, funds recovered by the State of Maryland for bridge reconstruction will be used to reduce project costs paid primarily by federal taxes.

The resolution of the civil case was handled by attorneys in the Aviation, Space and Admiralty Litigation Section of the Civil Divisions and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland, Baltimore Division.

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