Francis Scott Key Bridge Allision - M/S DALI General Average Declaration

We refer to our previous customer advisory of 26 March 2024 in relation to the M/S Dali and its allision with the Francis Scott Key Bridge at Baltimore.

The vessel’s salvage operations are still ongoing, but Maersk Line informed us today that their vessel Owners have declared General Average.

No indication is communicated so far as 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.

Richards Hogg Lindley (RHL), London has been appointed as their General Adjuster and they notified us of their intention to keep all containers, including MSC’s containers, under their control until security arrangements have been made with the Average Adjusters, both for General Average and Salvage.

The Adjusters will contact you directly in due course and will provide you with relevant information on how to proceed and act but you will find in the following attachments (GA Declaration Letter, DALI-GA Instructions to cargo, DALI-CMI-GA-Guarantee-Cargo) an explanatory note on the next steps to be taken, copies of the required pro-forma bonds, guarantee and cash deposit forms.

Meanwhile, Richards Hogg Lindley can be contacted at:

MSC very much regrets any inconvenience arising from this incident and will do the utmost to assist its customers to ensure the matter is handled as efficiently and smoothly as possible.

We invite you to please relay this message and its attachments without delay to your cargo underwriters so that they can contact RHL rapidly and ensure prompt release and on carriage of your cargo to destination.

Should you have any questions, please contact your local MSC representatives in our global network of more than 675 offices.