Md. Gov. Wes Moore on NTSB report: Key Bridge collapse was sole fault of the Dali and 'reckless operators'

Candy Woodall, Baltimore Sun on Mar 23, 2025

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Two days after a scathing National Transportation Safety Board report said Maryland could’ve done more to prevent the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, Gov. Wes Moore shifted the blame to the owners and operators of the ship that crashed into the bridge.

“It was the sole fault of the Dali and the sole fault of the reckless operators,” Moore said on "Fox News Sunday" in his first public remarks about the NTSB report.

The governor’s comments follow the Maryland Transportation Authority’s statement early Friday that also blamed the collapse on the freighter that crashed into it.

The NTSB in its critical report said the Key Bridge was exponentially vulnerable and Maryland could have done more to prepare for a collision, saying the state agency did not conduct an industry-standard risk study that would have found the chances of a vessel strike causing the bridge to collapse were 30 times the acceptable level.

The federal board also faulted the state for not completing a similar review of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge as of last fall.

Moore pushed back on the findings Sunday morning.

“The Key Bridge has passed every single federal assessment for literally over 30 years,” he said. “The Federal Highway Administration and the federal government had claimed, and continue to state, that the Key Bridge was not the issue.”

Moore said former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told him the size and speed of the freighter that crashed into the Key Bridge was the real issue.

“The issue was that we had a ship the size of three football fields … when you have a ship at that size moving at that speed, and what he told me was there wasn’t a bridge in the country that could have taken that impact,” Moore said.

Synergy Marine Group, the Singapore-based company that operates the Dali, declined to comment on the details of the NTSB’s announcement.

“First and foremost, we once again extend our deepest sympathies to those impacted by this incident. We appreciate the update provided by the National Transportation Safety Board and recognise the importance of a thorough investigative process. As the official investigation is still ongoing, it would be inappropriate for us to comment further at this stage,” the group’s spokesperson said in a statement.

The state and other government officials are pursuing millions in damages from Synergy Marine Corporation and Grace Ocean, which owns the Dali. The Maryland Transportation Authority said in its response Friday that the bridge collapse was due to the “gross negligence” of the ship’s owners and operators, who “put profits over safety.”

Senate President Bill Ferguson also focused the blame on the Dali when asked Friday about the NTSB’s findings that partially faulted the state.

When the collapse happened nearly a year ago, it was one of the most tragic days in the state’s history, the governor said. Six Marylanders died, and 13% of the state’s economy was immediately shut down, he said.

Echoing some of transportation authority’s points, Moore said the state has invested over $170 million in the past 10 years into protecting “things like the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.”

“Since the Key Bridge (collapse) happened … I actually authorized an additional $160 million going into the protection of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, and so that is a bridge that has passed every single federal guideline for over 30 years, in addition to the Key Bridge.

“But when you watch the reckless behavior from what we saw of the Dali … and how that ship, that size, that speed, slammed into the Key Bridge, that’s what caused this damage, and that’s what caused this tragedy in our state,” Moore said.

When pressed about whether an assessment will happen, which the NTSB said needs to happen, Moore said the state has been cooperating with the the board and will continue cooperating. The governor emphasized that he thought the NTSB’s findings weren’t just a siren call to Maryland but to Congress to act on the dozens of bridges around the country that face the same challenges as some of Maryland’s bridges.

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(Baltimore Sun reporters Dan Belson and Sam Janesch contributed to this article.)

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