FBI agents boarded ship belonging to company whose other cargo ship caused the Baltimore bridge to collapse

BALTIMORE– Federal agents on Saturday boarded a ship owned by the same shipping company as the cargo ship that caused the deadly bridge collapse in Baltimore, the FBI confirmed.

Spokespeople for the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Maryland confirmed in statements that authorities had boarded the Maersk Saltoro. The ship is managed by Synergy Marine Group.

“The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division, and Coast Guard Investigative Services are present on board the Maersk Saltoro and are conducting court-authorized law enforcement activities,” both the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in statements Saturday morning.

The authorities did not provide any further details. The Washington Post was the first to report on federal officials entering the ship.

The raid came several months after investigators conducted a similar search on the Dali, the cargo ship that struck the bridge.

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, the U.S. Justice Department alleged that Dali’s owner Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and manager Synergy Marine, both of Singapore, recklessly cut corners on quality and ignored known electrical problems on the vessel. The ship lost power several times just minutes before it struck a pillar of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in March.

The Justice Department said the massive ship’s mechanical and electrical systems were “makeshift” and not properly maintained, leading to power outages and a series of other failures that left the pilots and crew helpless in the face of looming disaster. The ship was en route from Baltimore to Sri Lanka when the controls failed due to the power outage.

Six members of a road construction crew were killed when the bridge collapsed into the water. The collapse also halted commercial shipping traffic in Baltimore Harbor for months before the canal was fully reopened in June.

The Justice Department is trying to recoup the more than $100 million the government spent to clean up the underwater debris and reopen the city’s harbor.

The companies filed a motion in court days after the sinking to limit their legal liability in what may be the costliest shipping accident in history. Justice Department officials said there was no legal basis for the attempt and vowed to vigorously contest it.

In its lawsuit, which also seeks punitive damages, the Justice Department argues that ship owners and operators “must be deterred from such reckless and extremely harmful conduct.”

This includes Grace Ocean and Synergy itself, since the Dali has a “sister ship,” authorities wrote in the lawsuit.

The two companies “must be deterred as they continue to operate their vessels, including a sister ship to the Dali, in U.S. waters and profit economically from these activities,” the lawsuit states.

Darrell Wilson, a spokesman for Grace Ocean, confirmed that the FBI and Coast Guard boarded the Maersk Saltoro in Baltimore Harbor on Saturday morning. Wilson had previously said the owner and manager “look forward to our day in court to set the record straight.”

Like the Dali, the Saltoro, which sails under the Singapore flag, was built by Hyundai in 2015.

According to the Justice Department’s lawsuit, major problems with the Dali’s electrical system could be due to excessive vibrations on the ship, which can loosen cables and damage connections. A previous captain of the ship had reported “severe vibrations” in his handover notes in May 2023 and said he had given Synergy similar reports in the past, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit cited equipment in the engine room that had cracked and cargo parts that had come loose. The ship’s electrical equipment was in such poor condition that an independent agency stopped further electrical testing for safety reasons, the lawsuit said.

The ship also experienced power outages while docked in Baltimore. These power outages are considered “reportable marine accidents” that must be reported to the U.S. Coast Guard. However, according to authorities, this never happened.

The “Dali”, which was stuck in the rubble of the collapse for months before it could be freed and refloated, left Norfolk, Virginia on Thursday afternoon for China on its first international voyage since the disaster on March 26.

Justice Department officials declined to answer questions Wednesday about whether the criminal investigation into the bridge collapse is ongoing. FBI agents boarded the Dali in April.

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Mattise reported from Nashville, Tennessee.