Dali chief engineer's criminal conduct admission deal could see charges dismissed in Baltimore bridge collapse case

NTSB report finds ’loose wire’ the cause of Dali allision with Francis Scott Key interstate highway bridge

In the early hours of 26 March, 2024, Dali left the Port of Baltimore bound for Sri Lanka and lost power while navigating through the Fort McHenry Channel, a deepwater route that leads from the port to the Chesapeake Bay.

Initially, the ship was able to broadcast a mayday call and regain power, but it soon lost power again before striking the Francis Scott Key bridge. The major interstate highway bridge collapsed seconds later, killing six construction workers. 

A long stretch of the bridge collapsed into the river, and sections of the pier, deck and truss spans collapsed onto the vessel’s bow and forward-most container bays.

The wreck of Dali and the remnants of the bridge obstructed the navigable channel and brought all shipping into and out of the Port of Baltimore to a standstill. 

NTSB investigators spent more than a year and a half investigating the incident and piecing together a detailed accident report in which they found that a single loose wire caused power outages on board the 9,962-TEU container ship Dali that led to the allision with and the eventual collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge. 

During a public meeting on the findings of the investigation into the incident, NTSB investigators said the loose wire in the ship’s electrical system caused a breaker to unexpectedly open. Investigators found that "wire-label banding prevented the wire from being fully inserted into a terminal block spring-clamp gate, causing an inadequate connection".

NTSB chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said her team had accomplished ’the impossible’ in isolating the single wire that caused the blackout on board Dali. She likened the effort to "hunting for a loose rivet on the Eiffel Tower," which is around the same height as the container ship’s 330-m length. 

The role of the flushing pump in the incident

A snippet from the statement of fact filed in the US district court is below, which details accounts from Mr Deenadayalan, referred to as the defendant, and the federal agency’s investigation into the cause of Dali’s allision with the Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore.

The Defendant joined Dali as Chief Engineer in or around the end of January 2024. Mr Nair was the technical superintendent who oversaw the technical operations of Dali. When the Defendant joined the vessel, he saw that the flushing pump was being used as the continuous fuel supply source for generators 3 and 4. Unlike his previous tours on the sister vessels, the Defendant found that the Generator Engine Fuel Oil System, including its fuel supply and booster pumps, was in such a state of disrepair that it could not be readily operated. The auto backwash filter motor was missing, and most of the filters were also missing. The fuel oil that was in the fuel supply lines smelled bad, and the Defendant knew the lines would need to be cleaned before the system could be safely operated.

The MV Dali arrived in the Port of Baltimore on or about 23 March, 2024. The Defendant did not notify the US Coast Guard of a hazardous condition on board Dali; that is, that Dali used a non-redundant fuel supply pump to supply fuel to two of its generators, and that the Generator Engine Fuel Oil System, with its redundant fuel supply and booster pumps, was in disrepair and incapable of being properly used.

The flushing pump was a maintenance pump, designed to flush the fuel lines and generator engines of existing fuel prior to a change in fuel type or maintenance work on the engines. Unlike the fuel supply and booster pumps, the flushing pump was not designed to automatically restart following a power loss. Unlike the fuel supply and booster pumps, the flushing pump did not have a standby pump. Unlike the fuel supply and booster pumps, the flushing pump could not be restarted from the engine control room.

The MV Dali’s use of the flushing pump as the primary fuel supply pump in the fuel supply system for generators 3 and 4 was not approved by class or the flag state, Singapore.

Status of other lawsuits related to the incident

A US federal judge for the Maryland District has postponed a civil trial covering claims related to the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge just before the trial was due to begin. 

Dali shipowner Grace Ocean and operator Synergy Marine reportedly settled wrongful death suits with the families of the six construction workers who were killed in the incident. The workers were on the bridge at the time of the incident and were killed when the bridge collapsed.

According to Insurance Journal, court documents show that the wrongful death settlements are part of more than 30 settlements that had been reached as of 29 May in litigation over damages related to the bridge’s collapse. The settlements reportedly include reimbursements for workers’ compensation payments and cargo losses, but no details have been disclosed in the wrongful death settlements. A settlement was also reached in the personal injury claim brought by a bridge worker who fell into the river and was later rescued.

In the wake of the settlements, US district court justice James K Bredar postponed the civil` trial after reportedly previously denying a request by Synergy to delay the trial to allow the company to focus on criminal charges in the incident announced in May 2026 by the US Department of Justice.

At issue in the postponed civil trial is the level of financial liability of Grace Ocean and Synergy for damages related to the bridge’s collapse. Both companies have invoked an 1851 law, the Limitation of Liability Act, in support of their claim. Grace Ocean and ship manager Synergy reportedly had been proceeding with claims of a right to limit their liability in the incident to the value of the vessel and its cargo, which was stipulated as US$43.7M following the incident. Riviera has contacted representatives for both companies, and the companies declined to comment on civil cases.

To date, the two companies have settled civil lawsuits with the state of Maryland for an estimated US$2.25Bn for economic damages and with the US federal government in 2024 for specific damages related to the costs of clearing bridge wreckage and the containership, Dali, that was pinned beneath the wreckage in the channel leading to the port of Baltimore.

While it has finalised its civil lawsuit with Dali’s owners and operators, Maryland said it is continuing to pursue some economic damages claims as well as claims against the shipbuilder, Hyundai Heavy Industries, that built Dali.

As Maryland’s attorney general’s office said in a statement, "The National Transportation Safety Board, in its final report issued in November 2025, found Hyundai Heavy Industries to be at fault in causing the M/V Dali’s loss of power and its allision with the Francis Scott Key Bridge."

Synergy Group has previously referred to the NTSB’s findings of the cause of Dali’s power loss as being "due to a manufacturer’s latent defect".

HHI and Baltimore city officials have reportedly pointed to the vessel operators’ part responsibility as being consistent with the findings of the investigation by the NTSB.

According to Insurance Journal’s report, in addition to ongoing state or municipal claims, there remain about 10 other claims unsettled from insurers and other businesses.

In the US Department of Justice’s criminal lawsuit, an 18-count indictment brought charges against Synergy companies Synergy Marine, based in Singapore, and Synergy Maritime, based in Chennai, India, along with an Indian national, Radhakrishnan Karthik Nair, who worked for both subsidiary companies as the technical superintendent for Dali. 

The charges against the three defendants included conspiracy, misconduct or neglect of ship officers resulting in death and obstruction and violations of the ports and waterways safety act, among others, according to US district attorney for Maryland Kelly Hayes, and followed a two-year investigation by the FBI, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the US Coast Guard (USCG) that was separate from the investigation by the NTSB.