On March 26, 2024, the container ship MV Dali was en route from the Port of Baltimore to Sri Lanka. Shortly after leaving port, the ship lost power and collided with a pillar of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. A large portion of the bridge fell into the river, killing six workers present on the bridge at the time. The accident became one of the most significant American maritime disasters.Now two years after the accident, Dali’s then-chief engineer admitted that he failed to report the dangerous situation to the US Coast Guard. Karthikeyan Deenadayalan, an Indian national who was Dali’s chief engineer, said he was aware that Dali used an unsafe fuel supply pump. According to Justice Department records, Deendayalan admitted that the unsafe pump, known as a flushing pump, lacked redundancy, which compromised the ships’ safe navigation and ability to recover from power loss. He acknowledged that he was aware that the inability to recover from the loss of power could adversely affect the safety of the ship, as well as any bridge, structure or shore area.
What is MV Dali?
MV Dali is a 900-foot foreign flag container ship, registered in Singapore. Synergy Maritime Pte Ltd, based in Singapore, and Synergy Maritime Pte Ltd, based in Chennai, India.
How did the accident happen?
While heading out to sea from the port of Baltimore, Dali lost power twice within a span of four minutes, causing her to collide with the Key Bridge. A loose wire in a high-voltage switchboard probably caused the first power loss. Critical systems on DALI were originally designed with reliable redundancy and automatic restart capabilities so that DALI can quickly regain power after a blackout. But shortly after the ship’s power was restored, it lost power again. The companies that were managing Dali eventually converted the ship and relied on a flushing pump to supply fuel to two of Dali’s four generators. However, the flushing pumps were not designed to restart automatically after a blackout, and Dali’s generators could not operate without a fuel supply, so the ship eventually experienced a second blackout. If Dali had used the proper fuel supply pumps, the ship would have regained power in time to navigate safely under Key Bridge.Earlier this year, both of these companies, as well as an Indian man, Radhakrishnan Karthik Nair, who worked as a technical superintendent for both of these companies, were charged with conspiracy, failing to promptly notify the US Coast Guard about a known dangerous situation, obstructing agency proceedings and making false statements.Deendayalan’s confession statement comes after the three entities were charged by a federal court.
‘Compose a reliable email’
Deendayalan detailed his conversations and correspondence with personnel of these two firms, including Nair, regarding the use of unsafe flushing pumps on ships. Deenadayalan said Nair instructed him to send a “confirming” email to Dali’s charterer asking them not to ask additional questions about Dali’s fuel consumption to prevent him from disclosing the use of the flushing pump.