Ship owner looking to limit liability in Baltimore bridge collapse

The owner and management company of the cargo ship that crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore last week asked a federal judge Monday to limit its legal liability for the deadly bridge collapse. 

In a joint “limitation of liability” filing Monday, Singapore-based Grace Ocean Pte. Ltd., the cargo ship’s owner, and Synergy Marine Pte. Ltd., the ship’s manager, asked a federal court in Maryland to limit their liability to about $43.6 million. 

The vessel is valued at up to $90 million and was owed more than $1.1 million in income from the freight, per the filings. Attorneys noted repair costs will total about $28 million, along with at least $19.5 million for salvage expenses. 

The 984-foot cargo ship, named the Dali, was attempting to leave Baltimore Harbor on its way to Sri Lanka last Tuesday when it lost power and crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge. The crash caused the bridge’s span to collapse into the Patapsco River. 

The ship was able to issue a last-minute mayday call to allow police to halt traffic moments before the crash, but eight individuals working on the bridge were unable to get off and were sent into the water when the ship struck.

Two workers were rescued and survived, and divers found two bodies in a submerged truck. The four other workers, who have not been found, are presumed dead. 

Monday’s filing is routine for cases under U.S. maritime law. The companies also used a pre-Civil War provision of maritime law that would let them to seek to limit their liability to the value of the Dali’s remains after the crash, The Associated Press reported.

Morningstar DBRS, a credit rating agency, predicted the incident could amount to the costliest marine insured loss in history, surpassing the record losses from the 2012 Costa Concordia cruise ship accident. The insured losses could total between $2 billion and $4 billion, the agency said. 

The federal court in Maryland will determine who is responsible and how much is owed, though cases of this kind often take years to completely resolve, Martin Davies, director of Tulane University Law School’s Maritime Law Center, told the AP. 

“Although it’s a humongous case with a very unusual set of circumstances, I don’t think it’s going to be that complicated in legal terms,” he said, per the newswire. “All aspects of the law are very clear here, so I think the thing that will take the time here is the facts. What exactly went wrong? What could have been done?”

Experts told the newswire the cost to rebuild the bridge could total at least $400 million, or up to twice of that, depending on the design. 

The collapse has closed the Port of Baltimore, a major shipping hub along the East Coast that provides more than 15,000 direct jobs and more than 139,000 indirect jobs. The U.S. Coast Guard opened an auxiliary channel Monday near the wreckage for commercially essential vessels, the first step in an extensive process to reopen the main channel. 

Officials said while they are trying to get commerce flowing as much as possible, the salvage process will be extensive, and there has been no definitive timeline for when the port could reopen. A tugboat was the first vessel to use the channel Monday. 

The Associated Press contributed reporting.