Nearly seven months after the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Maryland was struck by a ship and collapsed, the U.S. Department of Justice has reached a more than $100 million settlement with the companies that owned and operated the ship, the Dali.
Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and Synergy Marine Private Ltd., based in Singapore, have agreed to pay $101,980,000 to settle the US civil claim for the costs of responding to the “catastrophic collapse,” the Justice Department said in a statement. a statement. statement Thursday.
It says the money will go to the U.S. Treasury Department and other federal agencies directly affected by the incident or involved in the response.
In a September 18 complaint, the US sought civil damages totaling $103,078,056 under the Rivers and Harbors Act, the Oil Pollution Act and general maritime law, the press release shows.
There are still dozens of pending civil claims, including one from the state of Maryland, seeking damages from the Dali’s owners.
According to the Justice Department, Thursday’s settlement does not include damages for rebuilding the bridge because Maryland built, owned, maintained and operated it.
“This is a tremendous outcome that fully compensates the United States for the costs it incurred in responding to this disaster and holds the owner and operator of DALI accountable,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the civil department of the Ministry of Justice. Division, a statement said. “The quick resolution of this case also avoids the costs associated with potentially years of litigating this complex matter.”
The Dali struck the Key Bridge in early March after leaving the port of Baltimore en route to Sri Lanka. The ship lost power, regained power, and then lost power again before hitting the bridge, causing it to collapse into the Fort McHenry Channel.
Six people working on the bridge were killed.
The shipwreck, which could not be moved, blocked the canal for months, “bringing to a halt all shipping in and out of the Port of Baltimore,” the Justice Department said, adding that it also “severed a critical highway in the transportation infrastructure.” and blocked a major thoroughfare for local commuters.”
The Justice Department said the U.S. led response efforts, which included coordinating “dozens of federal, state and local agencies to remove approximately 50,000 tons of steel, concrete and asphalt from the canal and from DALI itself.”
The US has also set up “temporary channels to ease the port bottleneck and alleviate some of the economic devastation caused by DALI,” the report said.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
