Federal prosecutors in the United States have filed criminal charges against Synergy Marine, the Singapore- and India-based company that operated the container ship Dali, two years after the vessel struck Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing its collapse and killing six construction workers. The charges, unsealed on Tuesday, include conspiracy, obstruction, and misconduct resulting in death. A 47-year-old technical supervisor aboard the ship, Radhakrishnan Karthik Nair, has also been charged.

Prosecutors allege that in the early hours of 26 March 2024, the Dali lost power twice within a four-minute span before striking a pier of the Francis Scott Key Bridge — a roughly 2.5-kilometre, four-lane highway bridge spanning the Patapsco River at the entrance to Baltimore harbour. The first outage was caused by a loose wire in a switchboard; the second, prosecutors say, resulted from the crew's use of a flushing pump to supply fuel to two of the ship's generators. That pump, which was not approved for this purpose, failed to restart automatically after the initial blackout, triggering a second loss of power. Had the correct pump been used, authorities contend, the vessel would have regained control before reaching the bridge. Six road workers, who had stopped traffic on the bridge after receiving an emergency warning from the crew, were killed when the structure collapsed into the river.

Beyond the immediate cause of the collision, prosecutors allege a broader pattern of wrongdoing: that Synergy employees knew about the improper use of the flushing pump, took steps to conceal it on the Dali and other vessels, falsified safety records, and misled investigators about conditions aboard the ship. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche described the collapse as "a preventable tragedy of enormous consequence" and called the indictment "a critical step toward holding accountable those whose reckless disregard for maritime safety regulations caused this disaster." Synergy rejected the allegations, saying the DOJ was "criminalising a tragic accident" and that the use of the flushing pump was "wholly irrelevant" to the crash.

Separately, Maryland state announced a $2.25 billion civil settlement with Synergy covering damages to the bridge, environmental harm, lost toll revenues and other economic losses. The vessel's owner had previously paid more than $100 million to the Justice Department and $350 million to Maryland's insurance company to settle related civil claims. Prosecutors have estimated total economic damage from the collapse at $5 billion.

The collapse caused severe disruption to one of the US East Coast's busiest ports and the city is still working to rebuild the bridge. Reconstruction costs have ballooned from an initial estimate of around $2 billion to at least double that figure, pushing the expected completion date from 2028 to 2030. The disaster has also prompted broader scrutiny of maritime safety standards and the vulnerability of critical infrastructure to shipping incidents.