In the spring, a ship collided with a bridge in Baltimore, which then collapsed. Six people died. After a lawsuit by the US government, the operator and owner of the freighter are now ready to pay.
The owner and operator of the container ship that caused a major highway bridge in Baltimore to collapse in March want to pay a good $100 million in restitution. With the agreement, the US Department of Justice wants to drop a lawsuit with a claim of a similar size. To do this, the judge must first approve the agreement.
At the end of March, the container ship “Dali” rammed a support pillar of the more than 2.5 kilometer long Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing the highway bridge to collapse. Six workers carrying out repairs on the bridge were killed. The ship was unable to maneuver due to a power failure.
Ministry of Justice: Defects on the ship were deliberately ignored
In September 2024, the US Department of Justice sued two Singapore-based companies as owners and operators of the ship. The authorities accused them of deliberately ignoring technical defects in the “Dali” – also in order to save costs – which significantly increased the risk of a power failure.
According to the ministry, they now want to pay almost 102 million dollars (around 94 million euros). The lawsuit demanded just over $103 million in damages, including for the costs of the clearance work.
At the same time, the Ministry of Justice emphasized that the total did not include the expenses for rebuilding the bridge. It belonged to the state of Maryland, which is trying to get at least some of the costs back in its own lawsuit.
