Eight members of the crew of the ship that hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge will be allowed to leave for their home countries as soon as Thursday, according to court records.
The announcement comes as the Dali, the name of the ship, is preparing to be moved to Virginia for repairs, possibly this week.
Both the ship and the crew have been on the boat or at Seagirt Marine Terminal since the collision on March 26.
Attorneys representing the city of Baltimore called for an emergency hearing Wednesday night when they were informed about the possible departure of some of the court. The hearing was set for Thursday morning. However, lawyers for the city and Grace Ocean Private, which owns the Dali, reached an agreement to avoid a hearing and allow the eight crew members to return home to India and Sri Lanka.
The agreement states that the crew members will be made available within 30 days of a request to answer questions. The city was afraid that it would not be able to reach the crew if they left the country.
“Our clients are in the process of arranging for a replacement crew for the Dali. We have been advised that the U.S. Coast Guard will permit certain crew members to return to their home countries but has requested that other crew members remain in the United States,” Bill Bennett III wrote in a partner at Blank Rome, which represents Grace Ocean, wrote.
The eight crew members were previously interviewed by the Justice Department.
The city of Baltimore is currently in the process of challenging Grace Ocean’s bid for limited liability so it can sue for larger damages and economic impact.
Baltimore County has also retained counsel in the matter.
Grace Ocean and the ship manager Synergy Marine Group filed to limit its responsibility at the beginning of April. The company is asking the court to cap its liability at $43.7 million.
The Limitation of Liability Act of 1851 allows ship owners to reduce their exposure under certain circumstances.
Sean Pribyl, a partner at Holland and Knight, said the city must now show the vessel was unseaworthy or that neglect was taking place in order to show that liability limitation should not be granted.
In its filing, Baltimore is making the case that Grace Ocean provided the ship with an incompetent crew, unseaworthy equipment and failed to maintain the vessel in a reasonable manner.
The city says it is due payment for the replacement of the bridge, the costs of the obstruction to the river, costs for the loss of tax revenue, funds for the cleanup and money for the nuisance suffered by the residents of Baltimore.
“The Port of Baltimore was no stranger to large freighters like the Dali,” the lawyers representing Baltimore wrote in the filing. “For more than four decades, cargo ships made thousands of trips every year under the Key Bridge without incident. There was nothing about March 26, 2024 that should have changed that. But Petitioners, Grace Ocean Private Limited and Synergy Marine Pte Ltd saw fit to put a clearly unseaworthy vessel into the water.”
On April 15, Baltimore announced it was hiring trial firm DiCello Levitt and Philadelphia law firm Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky Trial Lawyers to “launch legal action to hold the wrongdoers responsible and to mitigate the immediate and long-term harm caused to Baltimore City residents.”
The families of two of the six people who died in the bridge collapse are currently suing the company.
The incident is under multiple investigations. The National Transportation Safety Board and the Coast Guard are looking into how the incident happened. The FBI also raided the vessel, likely opening its own criminal investigation.
