Page 8: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (November 2024)

Risk Management

Image courtesy Glosten

Baltimore Bridge Incident

Challenging the Future of Maritime Law

By Kristen Teatom and Kevin Kearney, SVPs at Hugh Wood Inc. n March 26, 2024, the Dali container ship crashed Allegations of Negligence into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, result- The DOJ’s complaint outlines serious allegations against ing in the loss of six lives. In June, the federal the Dali owners. Chetan Patil, acting deputy assistant attor-

O government announced that it had spent approxi- ney general of the civil division’s torts branch, emphasized mately $100 million to remove the wreckage and reopen the that the accident stemmed from careless and grossly negli-

Fort McHenry Shipping Channel, which had been closed for gent decisions. He argued that the owners knowingly sent an nearly three months. unseaworthy vessel into a critical waterway, disregarding the

In response, the Department of Justice has ? led a $100 mil- inherent risks to human life and national infrastructure.

lion lawsuit against the ship’s owners, Grace Ocean Private Benjamin Mizer, principal deputy associate attorney gen-

Limited and Synergy Marine Private Limited, accusing them eral, further alleged that the owners cut corners despite being of gross negligence. This incident sparks a broader conversa- aware of excessive vibrations aboard the ship that could lead tion about accountability in the maritime industry. Regardless to catastrophic failures. The ship reportedly lost power due to of what transpires from the lawsuit, its implications may set a tripped circuit breakers in its transformer, a long-standing issue signi? cant precedent for the future. exacerbated by alleged makeshift modi? cations to the vessel’s equipment. Patil indicated that the ship’s automation was reck- 8 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • November 2024

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