The owners of the Dali cargo ship were negligent and should be held fully liable for the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which killed six people, the city of Baltimore said in court filings Monday.
In response to the vessel owners’ petition filed in U.S. District Court this month seeking to limit their liability, Mayor Brandon Scott and the Baltimore City Council argued Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and Synergy Marine Pte Ltd. “put a clearly unseaworthy vessel into the water," and they called the companies’ actions “grossly and potentially criminally negligent.”
During a news conference Tuesday, Maryland Governor Wes Moore did not signal whether the state would get involved but said there are "active communications."
"We know that as the investigation goes on that we'll be able to move in accordance with what the investigation uncovers," Moore said.
Mayor Scott declined to comment on pending litigation.
The city of Baltimore is demanding a jury trial, saying the companies’ effort to limit responsibility for the vessel and the cargo’s value at $43.6 million is “substantially less than the amount that will be claimed for losses and damages arising out of the Dali’s allision [collision] with the Key Bridge.”
“None of this should have happened,” the city said in court filings. “Reporting has indicated that, even before leaving port, alarms showing an inconsistent power supply on the Dali had sounded. The Dali left port anyway, despite its clearly unseaworthy condition.”
A spokesperson for the Dali's owners declined to respond to the court filings or the filings' specific allegations.
“The investigations by the Coast Guard and the NTSB are still ongoing to determine the cause of the incident, and due to the fact that those investigations are ongoing and out of respect of the legal proceedings, it would be inappropriate to comment further,” spokesperson Darrell Wilson told NBC News, using the initialism for the National Transportation Safety Board. He said the company continues to cooperate with authorities and work with responders at the scene.
After it lost power and propulsion, the 984-foot-long Dali crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, killing six construction workers in what could become the most expensive maritime disaster in history.
"Since the allision, the Port of Baltimore has ground to a halt," the city wrote of the key economic driver that generated over $70 billion last year alone. "It may take years for it to fully recover."
"For all intents and purposes, Petitioners’ negligence caused them to destroy the Key Bridge, and singlehandedly 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 filings said.
This week, the state of Maryland announced multiple programs to support workers affected by the crisis, including a Port of Baltimore worker retention program that has so far received 129 applications, totaling $9 million in aid to protect nearly 1,500 jobs.
The court filings also take aim at the ship's crew members, accusing the company of staffing the Dali with an "incompetent" crew that lacked proper skill or training, "was inattentive to its duties" and "failed to comply with local navigation customs."
The Dali was scheduled to arrive in its next port, Sri Lanka, by April 22.
A new fourth channel is expected to open later this week, officials announced Tuesday. The 35-foot limited channel will allow commercial vessels to transit for a few days before suspending traffic for roughly 10 days to safely conduct rigging operations onboard the Dali.
"Once we complete that, then we'll be able to remove that and then shortly after that we believe the Dali will come free, and we'll be able to get the Dali out of the channel," said U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreath.
Still, Wilson said it remains to be seen when the crew will be able to leave the ship or head back to sea.
“The ship will be there in Baltimore for an unknown amount of time. It obviously will have to be inspected and repaired,” Wilson said.
"All things considered, they’re in good spirits," he said, referring to the crew.