The state of Maryland has reached a settlement agreement with the owner and the operator of the Dali cargo ship that crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge two years ago, killing six construction workers, Attorney General Anthony G. Brown announced Thursday.
Brown (D) did not disclose a dollar amount or any other details of what he described as a settlement in principle over damages from the accident just outside Baltimore, which disrupted one of the country’s most important ports after the cargo ship lost power and drifted into the bridge, destroying it. Brown said the agreement with the ship’s owner, Grace Ocean Private Limited, and its operator, Synergy Marine Group, is still being finalized.
“For two years, Maryland workers, families, and communities have carried the weight of a disaster that should never have happened,” he said in a statement. “The Dali’s crash into the Key Bridge disrupted the Port of Baltimore, devastated livelihoods, and sent economic shockwaves across our State that are still being felt today.”
The settlement, the attorney general said, “is an important step toward making Maryland whole.”
Maryland transportation officials have said that the ongoing effort to rebuild the Key Bridge could cost $4.3 billion to $5.2 billion — more than double the state’s initial estimate — while setting a 2030 target date for reopening the span to traffic.
The state’s settlement announcement comes as a coalition of attorneys representing dozens of alleged victims of the Key Bridge collapse prepare for trial in U.S. District Court in Maryland, where they are expected to argue that Synergy Marine and Grace Ocean should not be allowed to cap their liability in the disaster at $43.6 million — a request the owner and operator made of a judge just days after the March 2024 disaster.
The companies have already agreed to pay much more.
In 2024, Synergy Marine and Grace Ocean reached a separate settlement with the Justice Department to resolve a U.S. government lawsuit, agreeing to pay more than $100 million in damages. Last week, attorneys representing Maryland’s insurance company announced in federal court during a hearing that the owner and the operator had agreed to pay the company $350 million.
The civil trial to determine whether the companies qualify for a liability cap is scheduled to begin June 1. Several other parties still have open lawsuits against the Dali’s owner and operator, including the two men who survived the collapse, the families of the six men who died while filling potholes on the bridge the night of the crash and businesses who claim they suffered financially as a result of the port’s temporary closure.
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