Dali owners sue shipbuilder, alleging electrical malfunction led to collision with Baltimore's Key Bridge
The bridge collapse killed six construction workers and temporarily halted operations at the Port of Baltimore.
In a lawsuit filed last week in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Grace Ocean Private Limited, the Dali's owner, and Synergy Marine Private Limited, its manager, claimed that HD Hyundai Heavy Industries of South Korea designed and installed a faulty switchboard that led to repeated electrical failures on board.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the Dali lost power four times in less than 12 hours before colliding with the bridge.
The first power loss occurred on March 25 during in-port maintenance, roughly 10 hours before the ship departed from Baltimore. Power was restored, but a second in-port blackout followed soon after, the NTSB said in a March 2025 report.
The Dali left the Seagirt Marine Terminal shortly after 12:30 a.m. on March 26, headed for Colombo, Sri Lanka, with 4,680 containers. The captain reported the vessel was in "good working order," and it was being assisted by two tugboats.
However, the ship lost electrical power again mid-transit. The main propulsion diesel engine shut down automatically after the pumps lost power, stopping the vessel's propeller. Although the crew briefly restored power, a fourth and final blackout occurred moments later.
Without electrical power, the ship lost steering capability and struck the bridge, the lawsuit alleges.
After testing the Dali's electrical power distribution system and interviewing crew members, NTSB investigators confirmed that "an interruption in the control circuit" tied to the main breakers led to the initial power failure.
A complex legal landscape has emerged in the wake of the disaster. Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine face dozens of lawsuits related to the collapse.
In September 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a $100 million lawsuit against the companies, accusing them of knowingly sending a malfunctioning vessel into U.S. waters and failing to disclose the ship's problems.
More than 20 other parties, including survivors, families of the victims, local residents, and businesses, filed notices in May of their intent to sue the state of Maryland. The plaintiffs allege that the Maryland Transportation Authority failed to assess or mitigate the risk of a bridge collapse.
Grace Ocean and Synergy previously sought to limit their liability to $43.6 million, citing the value of the ship and its cargo.
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