It’s still not clear exactly what caused the Dali to smash into the on Tuesday,but the ship issued a mayday call two minutes before impact saying it had lost steering and video footage showed nearly all of its lights going off shortly before impact.
The cargo ship Dali is stuck under part of the structure of the Francis Scott Key Bridge after the ship hit the bridge in Baltimore.AP
The incident is proving disruptive for shipping at one of the busiest ports on the US East Coast and also for road transport,as it severed a key link on the major highway encircling Baltimore.
In 2016,the Dali hit a stone wall berth at the Port of Antwerp during unmooring manoeuvres,according to VesselFinder. The vessel,which was built in 2015,suffered damage but remained afloat. The ship was then repaired.
The Washington Post reported that the ship was sold to Singapore-based Grace Ocean after that accident. The company wasn’t immediately available for comment.
More recently,mechanical questions have been raised.
Last June,a routine safety inspection at San Antonio,Chile,found issues related to some of the gauges and thermometers linked to the Dali’s propulsion and auxiliary machinery,according to Tokyo MoU,an organisation that promotes safe shipping.
The issues weren’t grounds to detain the ship,flying under the Singapore flag,and it was unclear exactly what they were.
A standard ship examination by the US Coast Guard later last year found no deficiencies,the Equasis marine database showed – but it was undergoing engine maintenance in port before the incident,the Coast Guard said.
Records and statutory certificates show the Dali’s structural integrity and the functionality of its equipment were valid at the time of the Baltimore incident,the Singaporean government said.
The vessel also passed two separate foreign port inspections in June and September of last year,although a faulty monitor gauge for fuel pressure was fixed before the ship departed port.
The Dali is managed and operated by Synergy Marine,and on charter to Danish shipping giant AP Moller-Maersk A/S.
A London-based spokesman for Synergy Marine said the ship had about 4900 containers on board at the time of the latest accident. Company executives were travelling to the site to assess the situation.
Other ships owned by Grace Ocean have been sanctioned by Australian authorities.
The container ship Dali in 2016.Supplied
In 2021,the Australian Maritime Safety Authority detained another ship formerly owned by Grace Ocean Private,The New York Times reported.
The Western Callao was stopped after it found management owed 13 crew members back-pay and had failed to repatriate them after their nine-month contracts ended.
A 2020 inspection of the same ship by Australian authorities found that eight sailors had been aboard it for more than 11 months.
“Another company ship,the Furness Southern Cross,was found to have 10 seafarers onboard for more than 14 months,” Australian Maritime Safety Authority executive director of operations,Michael Drake,said in 2021.
Drake said the infractions were “serious and shameful breaches of the Maritime Labour Convention”.
Bloomberg
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