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Early Saturday morning, Washington Post journalists observed FBI agents boarding the massive container ship Maersk Saltoro at a marine terminal in Baltimore City. The vessel is managed by the same parent company as the Dali, which toppled the Francis Scott Key Bridge earlier this year. The journalists described the FBI operation as a “court-authorized law enforcement activity.”

Statements from the US attorney’s office said the FBI agents conducted “court-authorized law enforcement activity” on the Maersk Saltoro alongside officials from the Coast Guard’s Investigative Services and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division. There were no further details about what the agents were searching for. 

This comes just days after the Justice Department slapped Dali’s owner, Grace Ocean Private Limited, and operator, Synergy Marine Pte Ltd., with a $100 million new civil claim over salvage efforts to clear the critical waterway and reopen the harbor after the Dali paralyzed the port by toppling the bridge in late March. 

In the new civil claim, the Justice Department said, “This tragedy was entirely avoidable. The electrical and mechanical systems on the DALI were improperly maintained and configured in a way that violated safety regulations and norms for international shipping. These problems precipitated a power loss and then a cascading series of failures that culminated in the collision.”

The complaint continued, “As events unfolded, and because of the unseaworthy condition of the ship, none of the four means available to help control the DALI—her propeller, rudder, anchor, or bow thruster—worked when they were needed to avert or even mitigate this disaster. Mechanical and electrical systems on the massive container ship had been ‘jerry-rigged’ and improperly maintained, culminating in a horrific power outage moments before it crashed into a support column on the Francis Scott Key Bridge in March. Six construction workers were killed when the bridge plunged into the water.”

We all remember this dramatic video.

Breakdown of the multiple power failures on the container ship ‘Dali’ that likely caused the impact with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore today.

[🎞️ Moshe Schwartz]pic.twitter.com/ST5iBXrjxF

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) March 26, 2024

Although it’s unclear what the FBI agents were searching for this morning, we’ve previously highlighted that federal authorities should begin vetting the crews of foreign vessels navigating US waterways. This alone represents a serious national security threat.