Baltimore dock workers are suing the owner and operator of the ship that caused the Key Bridge collapse

BALTIMORE (AP) — A group of Baltimore dock workers has sued the owner and manager of the ship that caused the disaster. Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsesarguing that the companies should compensate them for lost wages while the port was closed in the aftermath of the deadly disaster.

The class action lawsuit contributes to a a whole host of other legal claims alleging that the ship’s Singapore-based owner and manager, Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and Synergy Marine Group, knowingly sent an unseaworthy vessel into U.S. waters.

There were six construction workers killed in the collapseshutting down most maritime traffic through Baltimore’s busy port for months as crews worked around the clock to remove thousands of tons of mangled steel and concrete from the main shipping channel. During the first clean-up campaign, many dock workers came to work found themselves without work.

“For dock workers, this was the same as what the world experienced during COVID, when everything stopped,” said prosecutor Ryan Hale, who has worked at the port for more than a decade. “I’ll never forget it: I wake up in the morning, get ready for work, turn on the news – I had to flip the channels twice to make sure it wasn’t a horror movie.”

The port fully reopened after the canal was cleared in June, but traffic did not immediately recover as some ships rerouted as the global supply chain made adjustments in the immediate aftermath of the collapse.

“Nearly six months later, vessel traffic at the Port of Baltimore has still not returned to pre-disaster levels,” the dockworkers’ attorneys wrote in their claim. “Plaintiffs’ incomes were and remain entirely dependent on the flow of cargo ships in and out of the Port of Baltimore.”

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday on behalf of about 2,200 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association union.

Baltimore attorney Billy Murphy, who represents the plaintiffs, said they want to recover lost wages in addition to damages.

Murphy held a press conference Thursday at which three of the plaintiffs spoke about how the port closure will affect them. They said their access to jobs and benefits is based on seniority, so working fewer hours has serious consequences as it could mean they slide back down the ranks.

“Everything we obtain is obtained within hours,” Hale said.

A lawsuit filed last week from the US Department of Justice provided the most detailed account yet of the cascading series of failures on the Dali, leaving the pilots and crew helpless in the face of impending disaster. That complaint alleges that the mechanical and electrical systems on the massive ship were “jury-rigged” and improperly maintained, culminating in a power outage as it approached the bridge. The crew’s efforts to restore power in time were also hampered by other problems on the ship.

Darrell Wilson, spokesman for Grace Ocean, said the ship’s owner and manager “look forward to our day in court to set the record straight.”

FBI agents boarded the Dali in April amid a criminal investigation into the circumstances that led to the collapse. Officers boarded another container ship operated by Synergy while it was in Baltimore on Saturday.

The Dali was leaving Baltimore for Sri Lanka when the controls failed due to power failures. Six men from a road crew, who were patching potholes in the road during a night shift, fell to their deaths when the bridge collapsed beneath them.

Although the ship experienced a series of electrical problems before and after leaving Baltimore, the power outage that occurred as it approached the bridge was likely the result of a loose electrical connection damaged by the vibrations on the Dali, recent court filings show .

Engineers on the ship manually restored power by reconnecting the broken breakers, but the ship shut down again due to a problem with the fuel pumps. Lawyers claim the fuel supply to the ship’s generators was improperly reconfigured as a cost-cutting measure after Grace Ocean bought it in 2017.

Grace Ocean and Synergy petitioned the court a few days after the collapse to limit their legal liability in what could become the most expensive marine accident case in history. Since then, a number of entities have filed opposing claims, including the mayor and city council of Baltimore, families of the victims, local businesses and insurance companies. They have all been combined into one sprawling liability case, and the deadline for filing most of the claims was Tuesday.