Dali container ship that brought down Baltimore bridge involved in previous crash

Vessel detained by authorities in 2016 after Belgian port collision

The ship that crashed into and brought down Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge on Tuesday morning previously crashed into a Belgian port.
Dali, a Singapore-flagged container ship, was leaving a port in Antwerp in 2016 when its bow swung around, causing its stern to scrape along the quay.
Nobody was injured in the incident and the vessel did not leak any fuel but it was nevertheless detained by the authorities, according to the maritime incident archive Shipwrecklog.
The incident, which happened in good weather, was caused by the ship’s master and pilot making a mistake, VesselFinder reported.
Dali apparently suffered a series of breaches, including a “seriously damaged” berth, and remained in Antwerp while it underwent repairs.
At the time of the incident it was owned by Oceanbulk Maritime, a Greek shipping company.
But it appears to have passed into the hands of the Synergy Marine Group, a ship management company based in Singapore.
The group put out a statement on Tuesday clarifying all of its 22 crew members were accounted for and that there were no reports of injuries.
At least six construction workers who were repairing potholes on the bridge when it collapsed are missing. Two others were rescued from the Patapsco River, one of whom was in a serious condition.
Dali’s crew issued a mayday call soon after leaving port when it suffered a power failure, which caused the 112,000 cargo ship to career into the bridge’s central pillar.
Wes Moore, the Governor of Maryland, said the alert meant officials rushed to close the bridge and to stop traffic from crossing it – just before the 1.6 mile structure collapsed.
Photographs of the vessel appear to show the incident caused extensive damage, with a steel girder shearing through its hull.
Synergy did not comment on the damage but said the incident had not caused a fuel leak. Authorities received reports of “odours of diesel” earlier on Tuesday.