There’s a ton of instances where shipping companies get by with the bare minimum of compliance. I think the crew and pilot were handed a crap sandwich at the worst possible time and did their best to salvage the situation. They just didn’t have an out.
Occam’s razor. Conspiracy is not as fun as admitting that corners get cut and things go wrong because of it.
That’s extremely well thought out and likely extremely accurate.
To add to that, the pilot and the Maryland police are the heroes, and without their quick actions, this could have been far worse.
According to Sky News, “An inspection of the Dali last June at a port in Chile identified a problem with the ship’s “propulsion and auxiliary machinery,” according to Equasis, a shipping information system. The deficiency involved gauges and thermometers, but the website’s online records did not elaborate.” So this was a problematic ship to begin with, probably with Band-aid type repairs just to barely get by. It was likely an accident waiting to happen.