DOJ Files $100M Suit Against Ship Owner for Baltimore Bridge Crash

Fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tors have filed a law­suit against the own­er of the con­tain­er ship that crashed into the Fran­cis Scott Key Bridge in Bal­ti­more ear­li­er this year.

The Jus­tice Depart­ment is seek­ing $100 mil­lion in dam­ages from Grace Ocean Pri­vate Lim­it­ed and Syn­er­gy Mar­itime PTE, the own­ers and man­agers of the ship. 

Ship Owner Allegedly Knew About Faulty Systems

Pros­e­cu­tors allege that the ship’s elec­tri­cal and mechan­i­cal sys­tems were “improp­er­ly main­tained and con­fig­ured” and vio­lat­ed safe­ty regulations.

These mal­func­tion­ing sys­tems were not report­ed to the U.S. Coast Guard, in vio­la­tion of safe­ty requirements.

“Negligence, Mismanagement, and a Desire to Cut Costs”

Accord­ing to Prin­ci­pal Deputy Asso­ciate Attor­ney Gen­er­al Ben­jamin C. Miz­er, the ship own­er and oper­a­tor were aware of vibra­tion issues that could cause pow­er out­ages but failed to take nec­es­sary precautions. 

The ship’s elec­tri­cal and mechan­i­cal sys­tems were con­fig­ured in a way that pre­vent­ed them from quick­ly restor­ing propul­sion and steer­ing after a pow­er outage.

Ship Crash Resulted in Tragic Consequences

The ship’s col­li­sion with the bridge result­ed in the deaths of six peo­ple, sig­nif­i­cant dis­rup­tions to sup­ply chains, and weeks of cleanup efforts. The DOJ claim is part of a larg­er legal action the ship’s own­er start­ed after the collapse.