DALI

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Sum up of proceedings one month after bridge collapse

One month after the allision of the 'Dali' with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, four bodies have been recovered, over 1,300 tons of steel have been salvaged, and three temporary channels have opened. Access to the Port of Baltimore remained limited since the collapse, and a complex salvage effort is underway in the Patapsco River. Support programs are underway to assist the thousands of workers impacted by the were . Since the collapse, the FBI and NTSB have launched separate investigations into the incident and Baltimore City announced a lawsuit against the owners and managers of the ship. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is leading the salvage effort. Its priority was to clear the main channel through the river to reopen access to the Port of Baltimore. Massive floating cranes were being used as wreckage and debris removal continues. Engineers have to break the mangled bridge into smaller pieces to lift them away, and Navy sonar images revealed wreckage in the deepest part of the channel. The rubble and debris are going to nearby Sparrows Point for processing and recycling. The progress has enabled the opening of three temporary channels for some ships to get in and out of the Port of Baltimore. On April 20, the third temporary channel opened on the northeast side to allow commercial vessels some access to the port, allowing about 15 % of the pre-collapse vessel traffic through as part of a phased approach to opening the river's main channel, which spans 700 feet, by the end of May, restoring port access to normal capacity. The 'Dali' remained pinned under tons of steel at the crash site, and removing more shipping containers from the vessel remained essential to move the ship. Engineers aimed to remove 140 containers to refloat the Dali; 120 containers were removed as of April 19. The 'Dali''s crew of 22 have remained on the ship since the accident. They do not have the appropriate visas to leave the ship, so they rely on organizations to bring them essentials. Officials have been in communication with the crew, as well as the crews aboard other cargo ships stuck in the port. All were in good health. The men killed in the Key Bridge collapse were working for Brawner Builders, filling potholes on the center span of the bridge. Most were immigrants, but all were Marylanders. As a memorial grows on Fort Armistead Road for the six men killed in the accident, recovery efforts to locate the two workers still missing under the wreckage were ongoing. They have been identified as Miguel Luna, of El Salvador, and Jose Maynor Lopez, of Guatemala. Three of the victims recovered were identified as: Dorlian Cabrera, 26, who was originally from Guatemala and lived in Dundalk; Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, who lived in Baltimore and was from Mexico; and Maynor Yasir Suazo-Sandoval, 38, of Guatemala. A fourth body who was recovered last week has not been identified at the request of his family, but he was known to be from Mexico. Both the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Bureau of Investigation launched probes into the crash. The NTSB investigation focused on the ship's electrical system, as it had lost power and the ability to steer before the collapse. The agency expected the preliminary report on the collapse to be released by the first week of May. When the FBI launched its investigation, it confirmed it had agents on the ship who were conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity. Baltimore City is suing the owners and managers of the 'Dali', claiming the owners of the ship were negligent in letting the vessel leave the Port of Baltimore without failing to fix known power problems. Perhaps anticipating a wave of lawsuits, the companies that own and manage the ship took steps about a week after the collapse to limit their legal liability. Local, federal and community resources continued to pour in to support the port workers, victims' families and others impacted by the collapse. The disaster affected 15,300 jobs directly related to port activity, but overall about 140,000 people have been impacted. Federal grants were freed up for dislocated workers to help replace jobs affected by the collapse. The government also allocated $8 million in grant funds for infrastructure improvements at Sparrows Point, the only port unaffected by the collapse. Two weeks after the collapse, Gov. Moore signed the PORT Act, which allows the governor to use up to $275 million from the state's rainy day fund to offset wage losses for those impacted by the closure and reduced operations at the Port of Baltimore. The Port of Baltimore Worker Support Program provides temporary relief to Port workers who have lost work and income. The Small Business Administration has also opened recovery centers to assist small businesses. Applications are open for the Port Business Wage Subsidy program, which is administered by the Baltimore City Mayor's Office of Employment Development. It will grant $1 million in wage subsidies to help businesses at the port pay their employees. The WJZ has partnered with The United Way of Central Maryland on the Bridging the Gap Fund to support eviction prevention, food access, and other needs. Maryland also launched a website centralizing assistance for those impacted by the collapse. A fourth temporary channel was scheduled to open at the Port of Baltimore on April 25. It will only be open for four days, but at 35 feet deep and 300 feet wide it will allow several ships that are stuck in the Port of Baltimore to get out. There were seven ships ready to get out of the port. Five will be able to get out, including a loaded car-carrier.

Deeper channel to be opened ahead of schedule

Officials in Baltimore were plannning to open a deeper channel for commercial ships to enter and leave the city’s port starting on April 25. This would be a significant step toward reopening the major maritime shipping hub that has remained closed to most traffic since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed last month. The new channel will be 12 meters deep, which is a substantial increase over the three other temporary channels established in recent weeks. It puts the cleanup effort slightly ahead of schedule, as officials previously had hoped to open a channel of that depth by the end of April.

City of Baltimore opposes against capping owner's liability

The City of Baltimore on April 22 opposed capping the 'Dali's shipowner’s liability in the Key Bridge collapse. The companies’ actions leading up to the disastrous crash were “grossly and potentially criminally negligent,” the city’s lawyers wrote in a new filing. The 'Dali' was “clearly unseaworthy,” a claim that will have major implications for the companies’ efforts to limit their liability. “For more than four decades, cargo ships made thousands of trips every year under the Key Bridge without incident. There was nothing about March 26, 2024, that should have changed that. But Petitioners, Grace Ocean Private Limited and Synergy Marine Pte Ltd, saw fit to put a clearly unseaworthy vessel into the water. Petitioners’ actions were grossly and potentially criminally negligent. In no way should their liability be limited.” The filing claims that the companies provided the vessel with an “incompetent crew that was inattentive to its duties” and “failed to comply with local navigation customs and/or usage,” failed to properly maintain the vessel and failed to comply with industry standards, among a long list of allegations. Baltimore hired a heavy-hitting lawyer with experience handling maritime disasters and structural collapses to handle its claims related to the Key Bridge collapse. The Maryland Attorney General’s Office also issued a request for proposals for assistant counsel to participate in Key Bridge litigation. The ship is owned by the Grace Ocean Private Limited and managed by Synergy Marine Pte Ltd., which both filed a “limitation of liability” action just days after the crash. The action was aimed at capping the amount of damages the companies could be forced to pay at about $43 million — the value of the 'Dali' and its cargo. The city’s filing ass the first among what were expected to be many objections to the limitation of liability action. The FBI was also conducting a criminal investigation into the accident. The ship reportedly experienced electrical issues before it left port but took off despite of that. Parties with claims against the 'Dali' will have until Sep 24 to file notice in federal court, though there was expected to be a lengthy court fight over whether the owner can successfully cap liability. If the owner had “privity or knowledge” of the issue that caused the crash, or if the ship wasn’t seaworthy before it left port, the limitation of liability action could fail, allowing claimants to pursue bigger monetary awards.