U.S. Indicts Operator and Supervisor of Dali on Multiple Criminal Charges
The operator of the containership Dali, which destroyed Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge in March 2024, along with one of the company’s technical supervisors, has been indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on multiple criminal charges. The DOJ unsealed the indictment it received on April 8 from a federal grand jury that lists a total of 18 charges against Sinergy Marine in Singapore and Synergy Maritime in India as the operators of the Dali, along with a shoreside technical supervisor, Radhakrishnan Karthik Nair.
The companies and the technical supervisor are charged with “conspiracy, willfully failing to immediately inform the U.S. Coast Guard of a known hazardous condition, obstruction of an agency proceeding, and false statements.” Synergy is also charged with misdemeanor violations of the Clean Water Act, Oil Pollution Act, and Refuse Act for the discharge of pollutants into the Patapsco River, including shipping containers and their contents, oil, and the bridge itself. DOJ said the conspiracy caused the death of the six roadworkers on the bridge, as well as an economic loss of at least $5 billion.
“The indictment reveals a pattern of deception and egregious violations that led to the unsafe operation of the Dali, which recklessly endangered the public and resulted in the ship striking the bridge,” said Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul of the FBI Baltimore Field Office.
Much of the coverage in the past has centered on the electrical wiring aboard the vessel, and the indictment does allege that a loose wire in a high-voltage switchboard likely caused the first power outage. However, it also centers on the installation of a “flushing pump,” which was also mentioned by the NTSB in its investigation.
According to the indictment, the defendants allegedly altered the ship and relied on a flushing pump to supply fuel to two of the Dali’s four generators. However, the flushing pump was not designed to automatically restart following a blackout, and the Dali’s generators could not operate without a fuel supply, so the ship ultimately experienced a second blackout. The indictment alleges that if the Dali had used the proper fuel supply pumps, the vessel would have regained power in time to safely navigate under the Key Bridge.
The NTSB report had called the use of the flushing pump “inappropriate” and linked it to the second power failure. It also noted in its report that an unnamed technical supervisor denied being aware of the pump being installed on the ship. It also quoted the supervisor as saying it would have been an unacceptable use of the flushing pump as the generator’s fuel source.
Synergy and Nair are also charged in the federal indictment with obstruction of an agency proceeding and providing false statements and documents to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) as it conducted a casualty investigation. The obstruction charges relate to, among other things, Nair’s statements to the NTSB that he was unaware that the Dali was using the flushing pump to provide fuel to the generators. The indictment also alleges that references to the flushing pump were removed from documents.
The DOJ had previously said the ship’s owners and managers “sent an ill-prepared crew on an abjectly unseaworthy vessel” and asserted that the crew was poorly trained. Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche called the indictment a “critical step toward holding accountable those whose reckless disregard for maritime safety regulations caused this disaster.”
In today’s statements during the press conference, there were also charges of “reckless cost-cutting” to keep the vessel in service. The NTSB found that the flushing pump had been in use for months aboard the vessel. Elsewhere in its report, it cited haphazardly performed repairs, such as to address vibration issues.
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The criminal charges come just weeks before the civil trial is due to start on June 1 in Baltimore. The families of the victims, the city of Baltimore, Baltimore Gas and Electric, and many local businesses, as well as the cargo owners, are suing. Synergy and the vessel’s owners, Grace Ocean, are seeking to invoke a limitation of the liabilities to the value of the vessel and its cargo after the incident.
The federal government settled its claims against the companies for more than $100 million in 2024. The companies’ insurance carriers have also settled with the state of Maryland. The judge in the civil case noted in the last status meeting that settlement talks were still underway with other parties.
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