Federal prosecutors on May 12, 2026 announced criminal charges against Synergy Marine PTE Ltd., the operator of the Dali container ship, and a senior employee of the firm, accusing them of making decisions that led to the March 2024 crash that destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge and of covering up what happened afterward. The same day, Maryland’s attorney general disclosed that the state had reached a $2.24 billion settlement with the ship’s owner, Singapore-based Grace Ocean Private Ltd., and its operator, resolving the state’s civil claims.

The dual developments arrived more than two years after the 985-foot vessel lost power, rammed into one of the bridge’s supports, and plunged the span into the Patapsco River within seconds. Six construction workers — all Latino immigrants working an overnight shift filling potholes on the bridge — died. The port of Baltimore, one of the busiest on the East Coast, was closed for months.

The criminal charges mark a significant escalation in the legal consequences facing the companies. The Justice Department had already filed a civil lawsuit against the owner and operator in September 2024, accusing them of ignoring known electrical problems on the vessel and seeking $100 million. The companies settled that suit the following month, agreeing to pay more than $102 million in cleanup costs. The state of Maryland and a group of Baltimore longshoremen filed their own actions, with the longshoremen seeking lost wages from the port closure.

Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board ultimately determined that the blackout which caused the ship to lose propulsion and steering was triggered by a loose electrical wire. In November 2025, the NTSB said investigators believed the crew might have discovered the loose wire ahead of the crash using infrared thermal imaging — a finding that sharpened questions about what the operator knew and when. The ship’s owner and operator later sued Hyundai Heavy Industries, the company that built the ship, alleging negligence in the design of a critical switchboard.

Maryland officials have projected the cost of replacing the bridge at between $4.3 billion and $5.2 billion, a figure more than double early estimates. The state unveiled designs for a new span in February 2025, to be built taller than the original at a cost then estimated at $1.9 billion. That figure rose sharply by November 2025. The replacement bridge is not expected to reopen to traffic until late 2030.

The ship’s owner and operator filed a petition in April 2024 seeking to limit their legal liability, a maneuver common in major maritime casualties. That petition has been overtaken by the series of settlements, including the $350 million agreement with ACE American Insurance Co. disclosed in April 2026 — matching the limit of the state’s insurance policy — and the newly disclosed $2.24 billion state settlement.

The bridge collapse and its aftermath have become one of the most costly maritime-infrastructure disasters in U.S. history, measured both in human lives and in the financial toll borne by the state, the federal government, and the Baltimore region’s economy.

  • Bridge replacement cost. Maryland officials initially estimated the replacement at $1.9 billion (February 2025). By November 2025, that forecast had more than doubled to $4.3–$5.2 billion, driven by revised engineering assessments of the span’s height requirements and structural specifications.
  • Vulnerability assessment finding. In March 2025, federal investigators said Maryland’s transportation agency had not completed a recommended vulnerability assessment of the bridge before the collapse — an evaluation that would have shown the risks of a ship strike to the span’s supports.
  • Loose cable discovery. NTSB documents released in September 2024 showed investigators had found a loose cable in a transformer and breaker system that had been switched on by crew members before the Dali departed Baltimore. The agency did not initially link that finding to the at-sea blackout but later, in November 2025, determined the loose electrical wire was the cause.