A Baltimore trucking company is suing the owners and managers of the container ship Dali for indirectly crippling its business.
Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and Synergy Marine Group, the owner and crew manager, respectively, of the Singapore-flagged ship that destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore after crashing into it in March, have petitioned for liability protection in a federal court in Maryland.
But Underwood Energy Inc., which owns hazmat trucks and runs a rail-to-truck transfer service for other hazmat trucking companies adjacent to where the bridge used to stand, contends that the negligence of the vessel’s owners and managers led directly to the destruction of the bridge.
That negligence “also triggered a broad-scale economic shutdown in Baltimore that will severely impact local business like [Underwood Energy], whose business survival and success relied on the infrastructure and legal system built by our nation to ensure safe passage of essential hazardous materials that many civilians rely upon,” the company argued in a claim filed Wednesday in the case.
“It is imperative that the petitioners be held accountable for their actions, which continue to have devastating and lasting impacts on the surrounding community and businesses like claimant’s.”
Trucks that transport hazardous materials, including nine operated by Underwood Energy and those owned by dozens of other energy companies that use Underwood’s propane and butane rail-truck transfer facility, must now cross the Patapsco River via a 30-mile detour around Baltimore to reach customers south of the city.
The city’s two river tunnels, the Harbor Tunnel and Fort McHenry Tunnel, prohibit hazardous materials.
“Essentially, we’re circumnavigating the Baltimore beltway to get back to I-95 south, but because we have competition on the south side of the bridge, we’re now at a major disadvantage,” Sean Underwood, owner of Underwood Energy, told FreightWaves.
Losing contracts
In the ultra-slim-margin business of hauling propane and butane, Underwood said a penny or two per gallon of product can translate into significant transportation costs.
“We’re seeing freight increases that are 3-5 cents a gallon higher due to the extra time it takes to detour around Baltimore,” he said, and that is adding 45 minutes to an hour each way. “I would say freight costs have increased as much as 30%, which makes going to another source a more attractive option for our customers.”
Underwood noted that in a busy year, the company services roughly 1,700 to 1,800 trucks at his transfer facility – mostly through annual contracts – and most of those trucks now have to detour to reach customers.
“Our best year we handled 15.9 million gallons of product, but I’ve lost roughly 7 to 8 million gallons in contracts due to the bridge being out,” he said. “We’ll see how many renew next year, but my gut feeling is we’ll lose more contracts, and others that stay may reduce how much business they do with us.”
Because the damages suffered by the company are ongoing, a specific damage amount is not included in the company’s lawsuit, an attorney for the company told FreightWaves.
Most frustrating for Underwood, however, is Grace Ocean’s and Synergy Marine’s reliance on an 1851 maritime law in their attempt to exonerate themselves from or limit their exposure to any liability that stems from the bridge collision.
“That bridge was originally constructed in part to move hazardous materials due to the restrictions in the tunnels, so I built the rail facility as close as I could to make transportation more attractive for customers – it’s almost hard to argue to keep the facility open without the bridge,” Underwood said.
“So to think that a company based in Singapore can be off the hook in the for liability and damages it caused in the U.S. because of a law written before the internal combustion engine? That’s crazy.”
Asked to comment, Darrell Wilson, a spokesman for Synergy Marine and Grace Ocean, told FreightWaves, “Unfortunately, due to the ongoing investigation in which we are fully participating, it would be inappropriate to comment at this time.”
