Ship owner looks to cut Baltimore bill
Singapore firm starts steps to share salvage costs with its cargo customers
BALTIMORE — The owner of the massive container ship Dali, which caused the deadly collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge last month, has initiated a process requiring owners of the cargo on board to cover some of the salvage costs.
The ship’s owner, Singapore-based Grace Ocean Private Ltd., made what’s known in maritime law as a “general average” declaration, which allows a third-party adjuster to determine what each stakeholder should contribute, according to company spokesperson Darrell Wilson.
The requirement is often invoked after maritime accidents so that the cost of saving a vessel or its cargo is shared among interested parties, Wilson said. In this case, it pertains to costs associated with refloating the Dali, which remains stuck with sections of the fallen bridge draped across its damaged bow.
Crews are working to remove some shipping containers from the Dali before lifting pieces of the wreckage and freeing the ship. They’re also working to clear debris from the Port of Baltimore’s main channel, which has been largely blocked for weeks, halting most commercial traffic through the major shipping hub.
A routine practice dating back centuries, the general average declaration marks the ship owner’s latest effort to minimize its financial responsibility in what could become one of the most expensive maritime disasters in history.
Grace Ocean and the ship’s management company, Synergy Marine Group, filed a petition soon after the collapse seeking to limit their legal liability — another routine procedure for cases litigated under U.S. maritime law.
Six members of a roadwork crew plunged to their deaths in the collapse. Attorneys for some of their families and a survivor pledged to challenge that petition and hold the companies accountable.
FOURTH BODY IDENTIFIED
The fourth body to be recovered from the site of the Key Bridge collapse was that of Carlos Daniel Hernández, according to officials from his home country of Mexico.
“Carlos Daniel represents our Mexican workers in the USA,” said Alicia Bárcena, Mexico’s secretary of foreign affairs, in a Spanish post on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday night. “Our deepest condolences and consular support go out to his family.”
The country’s Ministry of Foreign affairs “will continue to stay in permanent contact with Carlos Daniel’s family and other relatives affected by this terrible event, providing them with all the necessary support,” reads a post from the ministry on X.
In a news release Monday, officials from the Key Bridge Unified Command center said that the salvage team working to remove the bridge from the river located a construction vehicle in the water and found the body inside Sunday. The news release did not identify the body at the family’s request.
Two workers killed in the collapse remain missing: Miguel Luna, a 49-year-old father and grandfather from El Salvador who was living in Glen Burnie, and José Mynor López, a father of four who was originally from Guatemala and lived in Dundalk.
Hernández was one of three members of a family who were working on the Key Bridge when it collapsed March 26, said Sergio Aguirre, a spokesperson for the Embassy of Mexico in Washington, D.C.
Hernández was born in the western Mexican state of Michoacán, which borders the Pacific Ocean. He was related to Alejandro Hernández Fuentes, who also died in the collapse, and Julio Adrian Cervantes Suarez, who was one of two people to survive the disaster. Hernández Fuentes and Cervantes Suarez were brothersin-law.
A memorial service for Hernández Fuentes, the foreman of the construction crew who was born in Veracruz, Mexico, was held Friday in Dundalk. Friends have remembered him as a hardworking man, a devout Christian and a loving father of four.