The owner of the Dali container ship that crashed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge earlier this year, collapsing the span and killing six people, has agreed to pay more than $100 million in damages to resolve a Justice Department lawsuit, authorities said Thursday.
The Justice Department announced the settlement agreement in a news release, saying that the ship’s owner, Grace Ocean Private Ltd., and operator, Synergy Marine Pte Ltd., would pay $103 million in funds that would go to federal agencies affected by the collapse. That figure far exceeds the $43.6 million cap the companies had sought on the liabilities they could be made to pay — and signals the possibility of many more payouts on the horizon.
The state of Maryland, which owned and operated the Key Bridge, is pursuing separate damages, the department said, alongside dozens of others who have made claims against Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine since the disaster seven months ago. They and the Justice Department have asserted the companies knowingly let a dangerous and unseaworthy vessel out on the water.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Katie Mettler over at The Washington Post
