Dali Chief Engineer Admits Safety Breach in Bridge Case

Federal prosecutors have entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the chief engineer of the containership Dali, after the experienced Indian seafarer acknowledged conduct that amounted to a criminal violation of the Ports and Waterways Safety Act. The admission relates to his failure to report a known safety risk aboard the vessel before its devastating allision with Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland announced the agreement on Friday. It represents the first admission of criminal misconduct by an individual involved in the operation of the vessel linked to one of the most significant maritime disasters in recent U.S. history.

Chief Engineer Karthikeyan Deenadayalan admitted he knew that the *Dali *and two sister vessels, Maersk Saltoro and Cezanne, were operating with a fuel supply arrangement that lacked redundancy and created safety concerns. According to prosecutors, the setup could hinder the vessels’ ability to recover after a loss of power.

Court documents accompanying the agreement state that the ships relied on a flushing pump within the fuel system, despite the pump not being designed to automatically restart after a blackout. Deenadayalan acknowledged that he understood the absence of redundancy created a navigation hazard and posed potential risks to bridges, shore infrastructure, and other facilities. Despite this, he did not notify the U.S. Coast Guard as required under federal law.

Under the deferred prosecution agreement, criminal proceedings will be suspended as long as Deenadayalan complies with the conditions outlined in the deal. Prosecutors have filed a criminal information alleging a violation of the Ports and Waterways Safety Act, although they stressed that allegations remain unproven unless established in court.

The agreement also provides further details about communications between Deenadayalan and Radhakrishnan Karthik Nair, a Synergy technical superintendent who was indicted last month together with two ship management companies.

According to the filing, Deenadayalan admitted that Nair instructed him to send a “convincing” email to the vessel’s charterer concerning the Dali’s fuel consumption in order to avoid attracting attention to the use of the flushing pump.

The admission forms part of the wider criminal proceedings announced in May against Singapore-based Synergy Marine Pte Ltd, Chennai-based Synergy Maritime Pvt Ltd, and Nair.

Federal prosecutors claim the defendants knowingly operated the Singapore-flagged containership with unsafe modifications that contributed to the sequence of blackouts that eventually led to the vessel striking the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, 2024.

The bridge collapse claimed the lives of six construction workers, blocked access to the Port of Baltimore for several weeks, and resulted in an estimated $5 billion in economic losses.

According to the indictment, the *Dali *experienced two separate power failures within four minutes while leaving Baltimore Harbor. Investigators believe the first blackout was triggered by a loose wire in a high-voltage switchboard. Prosecutors, however, argue that modifications to the vessel’s backup systems weakened critical safety redundancies.

A key focus of the case is the flushing pump, which prosecutors allege was improperly used to supply fuel to two diesel generators even though it was not designed to restart automatically following a blackout. They contend that after the initial outage, the generators lost their fuel supply, causing a second blackout that left the vessel without steering or propulsion shortly before the collision.

These allegations are consistent with findings from the National Transportation Safety Board, which determined that an improperly secured signal wire caused the initial electrical failure aboard the nearly 1,000-foot containership.

In a separate development, shipbuilder HD Hyundai Heavy Industries has alleged that the vessel’s operators removed built-in redundancy measures after delivery by replacing automatic fuel supply pumps with the non-redundant flushing pump. The company argues that this modification breached classification requirements and played a direct role in the second blackout.

The broader criminal proceedings are still ongoing. The two Synergy companies, Nair, and the other defendants have denied any wrongdoing and remain presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

The investigation is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Coast Guard Investigative Service, and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division.