Justice Department seeks $100 million from two companies that owned ship that destroyed Baltimore bridge

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking more than $100 million from the two corporations that owned and operated the container ship that destroyed Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge in March.

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking more than $100 million from the two corporations that owned and operated the container ship that destroyed Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge in March. The two companies, Grace Ocean Private Limited and Synergy Marine Private Limited, “sent an ill-prepared crew on an abjectly unseaworthy vessel to navigate the United States’ waterways,” the suit reads. “They did so to reap the benefit of conducting business in American ports. Yet they cut corners in ways that risked lives and infrastructure.” Federal prosecutors say that the hefty financial penalty would cover the costs of the government response to the fatal bridge collapse and for the monthslong effort to clear the wreckage – about 50,000 tons of steel, concrete and asphalt, according to the Justice Department – from the water so that the Port of Baltimore could reopen. Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Benjamin Mizer declined to comment on whether the department will also pursue potential criminal charges from the collision during a call with reporters Wednesday, saying that “we cannot comment on any criminal investigation or action today.” The civil lawsuit is the federal government’s first enforcement action after the nearly 1,000-foot-long, 213-million-pound container ship known as the Dali struck a crucial support column the Key Bridge could not stand without. The collapse killed six overnight immigrant laborers who were fixing potholes on the bridge. This story is breaking and will be updated.