Dali’s Owner/Operator Sue Hyundai Claiming Manufacturing Defect
As a federal court in Baltimore continues to hear pre-trial motions and collect evidence for the claims pending related to the containership Dali’s March 2024 incident destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge, the owner and operator of the vessel are now suing the builders of the vessel alleging negligence or gross negligence in the design, construction, and/or manufacture of the critical switchboard which has become the focus of the investigations into the cause of the blackout aboard the vessel.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the teams from the U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies investigating the cause of the allision with the bridge quickly centered in on the power supply, critical circuit breakers, and the switchboard for the ship’s electrical systems. It has long been recognized that something caused the vessel’s breakers to trip, shutting off the power to the motor and critical systems, including the hydraulics to control the rudder.
As early as June 2024, it came out that the NTSB had found "an interruption in the control circuit” linked to the main breakers. A subsequent report revealed that a check of the wiring on the transformer and a relay found a “cable was loosely connected,” a condition which representatives from the shipbuilder Hyundai informed could create an open circuit and interrupt the 110VDC power on the HV side of the board. According to the report, the engineers said it would trigger an under-voltage release trip, which would result in a 440V blackout, and they later demonstrated it in tests.
In a suit filed on July 31 in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the owners of the Dali, Grace Ocean, and the operators of the vessel, Synergy Marine, allege, “HHI (Hyundai Heavy Industries) defectively designed the switchboard in such a manner that wiring connections were not secure, could not be verified as secure, and could lose connection during normal operation, such that the signal wire was not designed to remain securely connected to the terminal block, which design defect caused the switchboard and the vessel to be unreasonably dangerous and in a defective condition when it left HHI’s control.”
The court filing reveals that a UVR coil for the circuit breaker was not receiving control voltage, and that it was discovered that one of the control signal wires in the UVR control circuit was not securely connected to its terminal block. They go on to say that because the signal wire was not securely connected, the insufficient contact created an open circuit.
The suit alleges the wire was not securely connected because the “labeling band identifying the wire was installed too close to the ferrule crimped on the end of the wire.” It goes on to assert, “As a result of this and other defects, the signal wire could not be inserted fully into the terminal block’s spring clamp
gate.”
The law regarding maritime products liability claims, they state, requires that a manufacturer sold or manufactured the product, and it was unreasonably dangerous or was in a defective condition when it left the defendant’s control.
Construction on the Dali started in July 2014 and was delivered by Hyundai Heavy Industries in March 2015. HHI they allege “defectively manufactured the switchboard and vessel by failing to ensure that all wires were securely connected to their terminal blocks when installed and unable to loosen during normal operation.”
The companies are seeking the cost of damage to the vessel and resulting repair costs as well as contribution and/or indemnity as it relates to the 45 claims ranging from property damage to economic damages, clean-up costs, personal injury, wrongful death, survival, workers’ compensation reimbursement, and cargo and general average in the Maryland civil case. The court is set next year to hear the first of two phases in that case centered on Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine’s limitation of liability claim, and based on that outcome, the potential size of the liability.
The Dali, of course, was in service for nine years after its delivery before the allision with the bridge. There have been multiple reports about power problems and failures on the vessel before that night, including at the dock in Baltimore. The NTSB, in its reports, has also highlighted the maintenance of the vessel, citing examples of wear and makeshift repairs. The U.S. has claimed the vessel was not seaworthy, and Maryland and Baltimore, in their claims, cite the training and maintenance of the vessel.
Hyundai Heavy Industries has been served in the product liability case and will file its response in due course. This will start the parallel case seeking to place blame for the defects found on the vessel.