BALTIMORE — The owners of the cargo ship that struck the key bridge have filed a motion in federal court limiting their liability in the disaster.
The filings in federal court from the Singapore-based owners of the Dali GRACE OCEAN PRIVATE LIMITED and SYNERGY MARINE PTE LTD reveal details about the night of the collision.
According to the owner’s court documents, the ship cast off at 12:40 a.m. from Baltimore with two tugs alongside and a local Chesapeake Bay pilot onboard to oversee the departure from Maryland waters.
The first tug released from the ship about 15 minutes after departure at 12:55 a.m. and the second tug let go two minutes later.
After about 7-10 minutes of being underway and on course “the vessel experienced a loss of power and propulsion in the shipping channel," the documents say. The Dali regained power briefly, "but power was lost a second time shortly thereafter.”
According to the court motion, the ship “dropped anchor in response to the loss of power and propulsion.”
The collision with the bridge happened at 1:28 a.m.
The ship's owners claim it will cost $19.5 million to salvage the ship and another $28 million to repair it.
Along with potential losses of cargo, the owners are asking a U.S. court to limit their liability to $43.67 million.
Lawyers for the ship's owners are seeking exoneration from liability for any and all other losses for damages that might be filed because they say they “have valid defenses to any and all such claims.”
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