Dali, ship that crashed into Baltimore bridge, has troubled history

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.

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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.

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.

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“Another company ship, the Furness Southern Cross, was found to have 10 seafarers onboard for more than 14 months,” AMSA’s Executive Director of Operations, Michael Drake, said in 2021.

Drake said the infractions were “serious and shameful breaches of the Maritime Labour Convention”.

Bloomberg