A fierce legal battle is expected between HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, which built the vessel, the shipowner, and the ship management company regarding the incident in March last year, when the Dalio collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge at the Port of Baltimore, USA. The Dalio is a container ship built by HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and delivered in 2015.
According to the shipbuilding industry on the 5th, Grace Ocean Private, the owner of the Dalio, and Synergy Marine, which manages it, filed a lawsuit against HD Hyundai Heavy Industries on the 31st of last month (local time), claiming that HD Hyundai Heavy Industries is responsible for the collision accident. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries stated, "We will respond after closely reviewing the complaint."
The Dalio collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26th last year. As the ship crashed into the bridge, vehicles and people passing over it fell into the Patapsco River. The accident resulted in the deaths of six workers who were on the bridge.
In May last year, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) published a preliminary report stating that the loss of power on the Dalio was due to a crew member's mistake. A generator on the ship stopped due to insufficient fuel pressure, causing a power outage, and the crew opened the exhaust damper to restart the generator. At that time, it was found that the configuration of the circuit breaker was arranged differently from before. Power was restored, but the Dalio was too close to the bridge and collided.
The final report from the NTSB is expected to be released within the year. The industry believes that the owner of the Dalio and the ship management company filed a lawsuit against HD Hyundai Heavy Industries to escape or reduce responsibility ahead of the publication of the final report.
The plaintiffs claim that the accident occurred due to design flaws that caused the power outage, asserting that there was a design defect in the switchboard that controls the internal electrical supply of the vessel. The internal wiring of the switchboard had become loose, resulting in a power interruption and ultimately causing the vessel to collide with the bridge.
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries contends that the accident occurred long after the vessel's warranty period (typically one year after delivery) and that there had been no maintenance requests from the shipowner prior to the accident, therefore claiming no responsibility.
In September last year, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Grace Ocean Private and Synergy Marine in a federal court in Maryland. It alleged negligence and management missteps led to the accident and sought damages of approximately $100 million (about 140 billion won), including expenses for accident response and route recovery. Subsequently, the shipowner reached a settlement by paying a $100 million civil penalty.