Lawyers for the City of Baltimore are claiming that the owner and manager of the container ship that demolished the Francis Scott Key Bridge should be held directly liable for the incident.
The Dali slammed into the bridge on March 26, killing six people and shutting down vessel traffic to the Port of Baltimore. According to The New York Times, court filings from the city submitted on April 22 accuse the ship’s Singaporean owner and manager of “carelessness, gross negligence, and recklessness.” They went on to claim that the crash was a direct result of “the unseaworthiness” of the Dali, in reference to an April 15 report from the Associated Press that revealed the ship may have had electrical problems hours before it left port.
“For all intents and purposes, petitioners’ negligence caused them to destroy the Key Bridge, and single-handedly shut down the Port of Baltimore, a source of jobs, municipal revenue, and no small amount of pride for the City of Baltimore and its residents,” the filing reads.
The City of Baltimore says it plans to pursue “significant” claims against the firms responsible for the Dali, in a bid to compensate the city, its residents and businesses for the impacts brought on by the bridge collapse and ensuing port closure.
