Operators of vessel that destroyed Baltimore's Key Bridge to pay nearly $102M: DOJ
The operators of the vessel that destroyed Baltimore's Key Bridge in March have agreed to pay nearly $102 million for costs stemming from the federal response, the Department of Justice announced Thursday.
Under the settlement, the owners and operators of the Dali vessel -- the Singaporean corporations Grace Ocean Private Limited and Synergy Marine Private Limited -- will pay $101,980,000 to resolve civil claims brought against them by the Justice Department in September, the federal prosecutors said.
ABC News has reached out to the corporations for comment.
The civil probe is separate from the still-ongoing criminal investigation by the department into the events that led to the vessel's collision with the bridge.
The container ship Dali struck one of the piers on the Key Bridge early on the morning of March 26, causing the bridge to collapse and killing six construction workers who were filling potholes on the span. Two other workers survived the incident.
The crash affected entry into the Port of Baltimore for weeks as the debris blocked entry for other ships. Dozens of federal, state and local agencies responded to remove approximately 50,000 tons of steel, concrete and asphalt from the channel and from the Dali, the DOJ said.
Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Benjamin Mizer called the incident "one of the worst transportation disasters in recent memory" and said the settlement comes just over one month into litigation.
"This resolution ensures that the costs of the federal government's cleanup efforts in the Fort McHenry Channel are borne by Grace Ocean and Synergy and not the American taxpayer," he said in a statement.
The settlement resolves the U.S.' claims for civil damages under the Rivers and Harbors Act, Oil Pollution Act and general maritime law, with the settlement funds going to the U.S. Treasury and to the "budgets of several federal agencies directly affected by the allision or involved in the response," the DOJ said in a press release.
"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 the Dali accountable," Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton, head of the Justice Department's Civil Division, said in a statement. "The prompt resolution of this matter also avoids the expense associated with litigating this complex case for potentially years."
The settlement does not include damages related to the reconstruction of the bridge, which was owned by the state of Maryland, the DOJ said. Attorneys have filed a claim for those damages on behalf of the state, the DOJ said.
According to the cost estimates provided by the Maryland government, the bridge's reconstruction will cost between $1.7 billion and $1.9 billion, Shailen Bhatt, administrator for the Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, said in May.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.
A preliminary report released by the agency in May found that the Dali experienced two power blackouts while docked, 10 hours before the collision that toppled part of a bridge span.
