The FBI confirmed that federal agents on Saturday boarded a ship managed by the same company as the cargo ship that caused the deadly Baltimore bridge collapse.
The statements said, FBI spokesman And the US Attorney’s Office in Maryland has confirmed that officers have boarded the Maersk Saltoro. The ship is managed by Synergy Marine Group.
“Federal Bureau of Investigation, US Environmental Protection Agency The Criminal Investigation Division and Coast Guard Investigative Services are present on board the Maersk Saltoro and are conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement Saturday morning.
Officials did not provide further details. The Washington Post first reported that federal authorities had boarded the ship.
The raid came several months after investigators carried out a similar search of a cargo ship called the Dali, which had collided with the bridge.
The cargo ship Dali, after colliding with the Francis Scott Key Bridge, is trapped under a portion of the bridge structure, as seen from Pasadena, Maryland, on Tuesday, March 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
In a suit filed Wednesday, US Department of Justice The charges allege that Singapore-based owner Grace Ocean Pte Ltd and manager Synergy Marine acted negligently and ignored the ship’s known electrical problems, which caused the ship to lose power multiple times just minutes before it collided with a supporting column on the Francis Scott Key bridge in March.
The Justice Department said mechanical and electrical systems on the massive ship were “jury-rigged” and not properly maintained, leading to a power outage and a string of other failures that left its pilots and crew helpless in the face of imminent disaster. The ship was sailing from Baltimore to Sri Lanka when its steering failed due to a power outage.
Six members of a road construction crew were killed when the bridge collapsed into the water. The bridge collapse also disrupted commercial shipping traffic through the Port of Baltimore for months, until the channel was fully reopened in June.
The Justice Department is seeking to recover more than $100 million from the government that it spent to clean up underwater debris and reopen the city’s port.
The companies filed a petition in court just days after the accident seeking to limit their legal liability in what could become the costliest maritime accident case in history. Justice Department officials said there was no legal support for the effort to limit responsibility and vowed to vigorously oppose it.
In its suit, which also seeks punitive damages, the Justice Department argues that ship owners and operators “should be deterred from engaging in such reckless and highly harmful behavior.”
This also includes Grace Ocean and Synergy, because Dali also has a “sister ship,” officials wrote in the claim.
The lawsuit states that both companies “need to be stopped because they continue to operate their vessels, including a Dali-owned vessel, in U.S. waters and are financially benefiting from these activities.”
Grace Ocean spokesman Darrell Wilson confirmed that the FBI and Coast Guard boarded the Maersk Saltoro in Baltimore Harbor on Saturday morning. Wilson previously said the owner and manager were “looking forward to our day in court to set the record straight.”
Like the Dali, the Singapore-flagged Saltoro was built by Hyundai in 2015.
According to the Justice Department’s lawsuit, major problems in the Dali’s electrical system may have been caused by excessive vibrations on the ship, which could loosen wires and damage connections. A former captain of the ship reported “heavy vibrations” in his handover notes in May 2023, according to the complaint, which said he had made similar reports to Synergy in the past.
The lawsuit cited broken equipment in the engine room and pieces of cargo shaken loose. According to the lawsuit, the ship’s electrical equipment was in such poor condition that an independent agency halted further electrical testing due to safety concerns.
The ship also suffered power outages while docked in Baltimore. These blackouts are considered “reportable maritime accidents” that have to be reported to the U.S. Coast Guard, but officials say none ever occurred.
The Dali ship, which was stuck for months amid debris after the ship capsized, was able to be pulled out and refloated. The ship left Norfolk, Virginia, for China on Thursday afternoon on its first international voyage since the March 26 disaster.
Justice Department officials declined to answer questions Wednesday about whether a criminal investigation into the bridge collapse was still ongoing. FBI agents boarded the Dali in April.
