The FBI confirmed that federal agents on Saturday boarded a ship operated by the same company that operated the cargo ship that caused the deadly Baltimore bridge collapse.
In statements made by spokesmen for the FBI and the US Attorney's Office in Maryland, they confirmed that authorities had boarded the ship “Maersk Saltoro”, which is operated by the Synergy Marine Group.
“The FBI, EPA Criminal Investigation Division, and Coast Guard Investigative Services are on board the Maersk Saltoro to conduct court-approved law enforcement activities,” the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office said in statements released Saturday morning.
Authorities did not provide further details. The Washington Post was first to report that federal officials had boarded the ship.
The raid comes several months after investigators conducted a similar search of the cargo ship “Daly” that crashed into the bridge.
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, the U.S. Justice Department alleged that the Dali’s owner, Grace Ocean Private Limited, and its manager, Synergy Marine, both of Singapore, ignored known electrical problems with the ship, which lost power several times minutes before it struck a support pole on the Francis Scott Key Bridge in March.
The U.S. Justice Department said the ship’s mechanical and electrical systems were “rigged” and not properly maintained, leading to a power outage and a series of other malfunctions that left its pilots and crew helpless in the face of imminent disaster. The ship was leaving Baltimore for Sri Lanka when the power outage caused the steering wheel to fail.
Six crew members were killed on one side of the bridge when it collapsed into the water. The collapse disrupted commercial shipping through the Port of Baltimore for several months before the canal was fully reopened in June.
The Justice Department is seeking to recover more than $100 million the government spent to remove underwater debris and reopen the city's port.
The companies filed a motion in court days after the collapse seeking to limit their legal liability in what could become the most expensive maritime accident case in history. Justice Department officials said there was no legal support for the attempt to limit liability and vowed to vigorously oppose it.
In its lawsuit, which also seeks punitive damages, the Justice Department argued that ship owners and operators need to be “deterred from engaging in such reckless and highly harmful conduct.”
That includes the Grace Ocean and Synergy because the Daly has a “sister ship,” authorities wrote in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit says the two companies “must be deterred because they continue to operate their vessels, including a sister vessel to the Daly, in U.S. waters and benefit economically from those activities.”
Darryl Wilson, a spokesman for Grace Ocean, confirmed that the FBI and Coast Guard boarded the Maersk Saltoro at the Port of Baltimore on Saturday morning. Wilson had previously said the owner and manager were “looking forward to our day in court to clear things up.”
Like the Dali, the Singapore-flagged Saltoro was built by Hyundai in 2015.
According to the Justice Department lawsuit, the major problems with the Daly’s electrical system may have been caused by excessive vibrations on board the ship, which could have weakened wiring and damaged communications. According to the complaint, a former captain of the ship reported “extreme vibrations” in his delivery notes in May 2023, saying he had made similar reports to Synergy in the past.
The lawsuit noted cracks in equipment in the engine room and shaking cargo parts. The condition of the ship’s electrical equipment was so poor that an independent agency halted further electrical testing over safety concerns, according to the lawsuit.
The ship also experienced power outages while docked in Baltimore. These outages are considered “reportable marine incidents” and must be reported to the U.S. Coast Guard, which authorities say never happened.
The Daly, which had been stuck in the wreckage for months before being salvaged and refloated, left Norfolk, Virginia, on Thursday afternoon en route to China on its first international voyage since the March 26 disaster.
U.S. Justice Department officials declined to answer questions Wednesday about whether the criminal investigation into the bridge collapse was still ongoing. FBI agents boarded the Daly in April.
