Grace Ocean the Singapore-based owners of the Maersk chartered Dali, which ran into Baltimore’s Francis Key Bridge killing six workers and demolishing the crossing, declared general average on Saturday.
Baltimore port has been closed since the 10,000 TEU vessel lost power as it exited the port via the Patapsco River on 26 March, Maersk’s partner MSC confirmed the decision to declare general average on 12 April.
In a statement, MSC said, “No indication is communicated so far as to when and where their vessel will be berthed and discharged, but this decision indicates that the owners expect the salvage operations to result in high extraordinary costs for which they expect contribution from all salvaged parties under general average.”
MSC added that the general adjuster, Richards Hogg Lindley (RHL) of London, have said all containers will remain under their control “until security arrangements have been made with the average adjusters, both for general average and salvage”.
RHL is urging cargo owners to get in touch as a matter of urgency to declare their cargo, particularly those containers that are transporting consolidated cargoes with the company. The general adjuster said it needs to identify all the individual shipments through bills of lading and freight descriptions.
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